Philanthropy

"Philanthropist" redirects here. For other uses, see Philanthropist (disambiguation).

Philanthropy (from Greek φιλανθρωπία) means etymologically, the love of humanity, in the sense of caring, nourishing, developing, and enhancing what it means to be human. In this meaning, it involves both the benefactor in their identifying and exercising their values, and the beneficiary in their receipt and benefit from the service or goods provided. A conventional modern definition is "private initiatives, for public good, focusing on quality of life," which combines an original humanistic tradition with a social scientific aspect developed in the 20th century. The definition also serves to contrast philanthropy with business endeavours, which are private initiatives for private good, e.g., focusing on material gain, and with government endeavours, which are public initiatives for public good, e.g., focusing on provision of public services. A person who practices philanthropy is called a philanthropist.

Philanthropy has distinguishing features from charity; not all charity is philanthropy, or vice versa, though there is a recognized degree of overlap in practice. A difference commonly cited is that charity aims to relieve the pain of a particular social problem, whereas philanthropy attempts to address the root cause of the problem—the difference between the proverbial gift of a fish to a hungry person, versus teaching them how to fish.

Definitions

The literal, classical definitions and understandings of the term philanthropy derive from its origins in the Greek φιλανθρωπία, which combines the word φίλος (philos) for "loving" and ἄνθρωπος (anthropos) for "human being" (see below).

The most conventional modern definition is "private initiatives, for public good, focusing on quality of life". This combines the social scientific aspect developed in the century with the original humanistic tradition, and serves to contrast philanthropy with business (private initiatives for private good, focusing on material prosperity) and government (public initiatives for public good, focusing on law and order). These distinctions have been analyzed by Olivier Zunz,[1] and others.

Instances of philanthropy commonly overlap with instances of charity, though not all charity is philanthropy, or vice versa. The difference commonly cited is that charity relieves the pains of social problems, whereas philanthropy attempts to solve those problems at their root causes (the difference between giving a hungry person a fish, and teaching them how to fish).

Etymology

The word was first coined as an adjective by the playwright Aeschylus in Prometheus Bound (5th century BC), to describe Prometheus' character as "humanity loving" (philanthropos tropos), for having given to the earliest proto-humans who had no culture, fire (symbolizing technological civilization) and "blind hope" (optimism); together, they would be used to improve the human condition, to save mankind from destruction. Thus, in the perspective of this early writer, humans were distinguished from all other animals by being a civilization with the power to complete their own creation through education (self-development) and culture (civic development), expressed in good works benefiting others. The new word, φιλάνθρωπος philanthropos, combined two words: φίλος philos, "loving" in the sense of benefitting, caring for, nourishing; and ἄνθρωπος anthropos, "human being" in the sense of "humanity", or "human-ness." The first use of the noun form philanthrôpía came shortly thereafter (c. 390 BC), in the early Platonic dialogue Euthyphro. Socrates is reported to have said that his "pouring out" of his thoughts freely (without charge) to his listeners was his philanthrôpía.

In the first century BC, both paideia and philanthrôpía were translated into Latin by the single word humanitas, which was also understood to be the core of liberal education studia humanitatis, the studies of humanity, or simply "the humanities." In the second century AD, Plutarch used the concept of philanthrôpía to describe superior human beings. This Classically synonymous troika, of philanthropy, the humanities, and liberal education, declined with the replacement of the classical world by Christianity. During the Middle Ages, philanthrôpía was superseded by caritas charity, selfless love, valued for salvation. Philanthropy was modernized by Sir Francis Bacon in the 1600s, who is largely credited with preventing the word from being owned by horticulture. Bacon considered philanthrôpía to be synonymous with "goodness", which correlated with the Aristotelian conception of virtue, as consciously instilled habits of good behavior.[2] Then in the 1700s, an influential lexical figurehead by the name of Samuel Johnson simply defined philanthropy as "love of mankind; good nature".[3] This definition still survives today and is often cited more gender-neutrally as the "love of humanity." However, it was Noah Webster who would more accurately reflect the word usage in American English.[4]

The precise meaning of philanthropy is still a matter of some contention, its definition being largely dependent on the particular interests of the writer employing the term. Nevertheless, there are some working definitions to which the community associated with the field of "philanthropic studies" most commonly subscribes. One of the more widely accepted of these is the one employed by Lester Salamon, who defines philanthropy as "the private giving of time or valuables (money, security, property) for public purposes; and/or one form of income of private non-profit organizations".

History

Classical philanthropy

The Ancient Greek view of philanthropy—that the "love of what it is to be human" is the essential nature and purpose of humanity, culture and civilization—was intrinsically philosophical, containing both metaphysics and ethics. The Greeks adopted the "love of humanity" as an educational ideal, whose goal was excellence (arete)—the fullest self-development, of body, mind, and spirit, which is the essence of liberal education. The Platonic Academy's philosophical dictionary defined Philanthropia as "a state of well-educated habits stemming from love of humanity, a state of being productive of benefit to humans". Just as Prometheus' human-empowering gifts rebelled against the tyranny of Zeus, philanthropia was also associated with freedom and democracy. Both Socrates and the laws of Athens were described as "philanthropic and democratic".

The replacement of Classical civilization by Christianity replaced philanthropy with Christian theology and soteriology, administered through the Roman Catholic Church's ecclesiastical and monastic infrastructures. Gradually there emerged a non-religious agricultural infrastructure based on peasant farming organized into manors, which were in turn organized for law and order by feudalism.

When it was rediscovered in the Italian Renaissance, humanism consisted of a specific academic curriculum: grammar, rhetoric, poetry, history, and moral philosophy, or ethics, designed to train laymen for effective leadership in business, law, and government. One of the clearest literary expressions of Renaissance humanist philosophy is Pico della Mirandola's famous 15th-century Oration on the Dignity of Man, which echoes the philanthropic myth of human creation, though with the Christian God as the Promethean Creator. Francis Bacon in 1592 wrote in a letter that his "vast contemplative ends" expressed his "philanthropia", and his 1608 essay On Goodness defined his subject as "the affecting of the weale of men ... what the Grecians call philanthropia". Henry Cockeram, in his English dictionary (1623), cited "philanthropie" as a synonym for "humanitie"(in Latin, humanitas)—thus reaffirming the Classical formulation.

Modern philanthropy

The Foundling Hospital. The building has been demolished.

Philanthropy began to reach its modern form in the Age of Enlightenment; after the Wars of Religion in 17th century Europe, secular alternatives such as rationalism, empiricism, and science inclined philosophers toward a progressive view of history. This tendency achieved an especially pure articulation in the Scottish Enlightenment, especially in the works of Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury and Francis Hutcheson, who proposed that philanthropy is the essential key to human happiness, conceived as a kind of "fitness" (living in harmony with Nature and one's own circumstances). Self-development, manifested in good deeds toward others, was the surest way to live a pleasing, fulfilling, and satisfying life, as well as to help build a commonwealth community.

Influenced by these ideas, and as a facet of the expansion of civil society, charitable and philanthropic activity among voluntary associations and rich benefactors became a widespread cultural practice. Societies, gentleman's clubs, and mutual associations began to flourish in England, and the upper-classes increasingly adopted a philanthropic attitude toward the disadvantaged. This new social activism was channeled into the establishment of charitable organizations; these proliferated from the middle of the century.[5]

This emerging upper-class fashion for benevolence resulted in the incorporation of the first charitable organizations. Captain Thomas Coram, appalled by the number of abandoned children living on the streets of London, set up the Foundling Hospital in 1741 to look after these unwanted orphans in Lamb's Conduit Fields, Bloomsbury. This was the first such charity in the world[6] and served as the precedent for incorporated associational charities everywhere.[7]

Jonas Hanway, another notable philanthropist of the era established The Marine Society in 1756 as the first seafarer's charity, in a bid to aid the recruitment of men to the navy.[8] By 1763, the society had recruited over 10,000 men and it was incorporated by an Act of Parliament in 1772. Hanway was also instrumental in establishing the Magdalen Hospital to rehabilitate prostitutes. These organizations were funded by subscription and run as voluntary associations. They raised public awareness of their activities through the emerging popular press and were generally held in high social regard—some charities received state recognition in the form of the Royal Charter.

Philanthropists, such as anti-slavery campaigner William Wilberforce, began to adopt active campaigning roles, where they would champion a cause and lobby the government for legislative change. This included organized campaigns against the ill treatment of animals and children and the campaign that eventually succeeded in ending the slave trade throughout the British Empire at the turn of the 19th century.

Andrew Carnegie's philanthropy. Puck magazine cartoon by Louis Dalrymple, 1903

During the 19th century, a profusion of charitable organizations were set up to alleviate the awful conditions of the working class in the slums. The Labourer's Friend Society, chaired by Lord Shaftesbury in the United Kingdom in 1830, was set up to improve working class conditions. This included the promotion of allotment of land to labourers for "cottage husbandry" that later became the allotment movement, and in 1844 it became the first Model Dwellings Company—an organization that sought to improve the housing conditions of the working classes by building new homes for them, while at the same time receiving a competitive rate of return on any investment. This was one of the first housing associations, a philanthropic endeavour that flourished in the second half of the nineteenth century, brought about by the growth of the middle class. Later associations included the Peabody Trust, and the Guinness Trust. The principle of philanthropic intention with capitalist return was given the label "five per cent philanthropy."[9][10]

In 1863, the Swiss businessman Henry Dunant used his personal fortune to found the Geneva Society for Public Welfare, which became the International Committee of the Red Cross. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, Dunant personally led Red Cross delegations that treated soldiers. He shared the first Nobel Peace Prize for this work in 1901.[11]

Philanthropy became a very fashionable activity among the expanding middle classes in Britain and America. Octavia Hill and John Ruskin were an important force behind the development of social housing and Andrew Carnegie exemplified the large scale philanthropy of the newly rich in industrialized America. In Gospel of Wealth (1889), Carnegie wrote about the responsibilities of great wealth and the importance of social justice. He established public libraries throughout the English-speaking countries[12] as well as contributing large sums to schools and universities. Other American philanthropists of the early 20th century were John D. Rockefeller and Henry Ford. The sheer size of their endowments directed their attention to addressing the causes and instruments, as distinct from the symptoms and expressions, of social problems and cultural opportunities.[1]

21st century efforts

In recent decades, wealth creators in new high tech sectors have turned to second careers in philanthropy at earlier ages, creating large foundations. Individual philanthropy began to be chic, attracting celebrities from popular arts. Commercial movies and television adopted the idea, and many initiatives have been led by wealthy individuals such as Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.

In addition, trends in philanthropy have been affected in various ways by technological and cultural change. Today, many donations are made through the Internet (see also donation statistics).[13]

Organizations such as Opportunity International and Kiva (microlending), Raise5 (microvolunteering), or Charitykick (micro-donating) leverage crowdfunding philanthropy to raise money for charity. Global Giving allows individuals to crowd-fund community development projects in low-income countries. GiveDirectly facilitates direct cash transfers to individual low-income households in East Africa. Zidisha is a nonprofit person-to-person microlending website which uses an eBay-style marketplace to allow individuals in developing countries to crowd-fund loans from individual web users worldwide. Vittana is an online platform that allows low-income youth in developing countries to crowd-fund tuition for higher education.

Charity evaluators, like Givewell and Charity Navigator have emerged, which assess charities in various ways to help prospective donors make their choice.

Despite the emergence of high tech and celebrity philanthropic foundations, studies by The Chronicle of Philanthropy have indicated that the rich—those making over $100,000 a year—give a smaller share of their income to charity (4.2% on average) than those making more than $50,000-$100,000 a year.[14][15]

Organizations supporting

A variety of organizations that have been created over the decades to study, support, and evaluate practical philanthropic endeavours and ideas exist today, and continue research into philanthropy, analysis of its trends, and student-training for its occupations and further study.


Large individual gifts

John D. Rockefeller in 1885
Front building of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Seattle

The following is a list of reported gifts, by date, with their date and source, where the gift values are nominal (not been adjusted for inflation, to current dollars):

Gifts for which dates are not stated:

Further reading

The following are suggested articles for further reading, in particular, reputable sources with an emphasis on material that might improve the content of the article. Format used is intended to make each citation reference-ready.

References

  1. 1 2 Zunz, Olivier (2011). Philanthropy in America, A History: Politics and Society in Twentieth-Century America. Princeton, NJ, USA: Princeton University Press. ISBN 1400839416. Archived from the original on October 17, 2011. Retrieved 28 January 2016.
  2. ↑ Aristotle, & Irwin, T. (1985). Nicomachean ethics. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett.
  3. ↑ Johnson, S. (1979). A dictionary of the English language. London: Times Books.
  4. ↑ "Mitchell Kutney: Philanthropy is what sustains the charitable sector, not money". Blue & Green Tomorrow. 2013-06-18. Retrieved 2014-11-08.
  5. ↑ "Background - Associational Charities - London Lives". londonlives.org. Retrieved 29 January 2016.
  6. ↑ "Thomas Coram (1668-1751)". thedorsetpage.com. Retrieved 29 January 2016.
  7. ↑ "The London Foundling Hospital". victorianweb.org. Retrieved 29 January 2016.
  8. ↑ N. A. M. Rodger, The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain 1649–1815 (New York: W. W. Norton & Company: 2004), 313.
  9. ↑ Siegel, Fred (1974). "Five Per Cent Philanthropy: An Account of Housing in Urban Areas Between 1840 and 1914. By John Nelson Tarn… [Book Review]". The Journal of Economic History 34 (4, December): 1061f. doi:10.1017/S0022050700089683. Retrieved 29 January 2016.
  10. ↑ Tarn, John Nelson (1973). Five Per Cent Philanthropy: An Account of Housing in Urban Areas Between 1840 and 1914. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. pp. xiv, 23, and passim. ISBN 0521085063. Retrieved 29 January 2016.
  11. ↑ "Henry Dunant". nndb.com. Retrieved 29 January 2016.
  12. ↑ Abigail A. VanSlyck, "'The Utmost Amount of Effectiv [Sic] Accommodation': Andrew Carnegie and the Reform of the American Library", Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians (1991) 50#4 pp. 359–383 in JSTOR.
  13. ↑ "The 2011 Online Giving Report, presented by Steve MacLaughlin, Jim O'Shaughnessy, and Allison Van Diest" (PDF). blackbaud.com. February 2012. Retrieved January 2013.
  14. ↑ Frank, Robert (August 20, 2012). "The Rich Are Less Charitable Than the Middle Class: Study". CNBC. Retrieved February 21, 2014.
  15. ↑ Kavoussi, Bonnie. "Rich People Give A Smaller Share Of Their Income To Charity Than Middle-Class Americans Do". The Huffington Post. Retrieved February 21, 2014.
  16. ↑ Andrew. Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1920.
  17. ↑ "Our History". The Rockefeller Foundation. Retrieved 29 January 2016.
  18. ↑ Bertoni, Steven (2012). "Chuck Feeney: The Billionaire Who Is Trying To Go Broke" (online). Forbes (September 18). Retrieved 28 January 2016.
  19. ↑ Miller, Judith (1997). "He Gave Away $600 Million, and No One Knew" (online). The New York Times (January 23). Retrieved 28 January 2016.
  20. ↑ Gurney, Kaitlin. "10 years later, Rowan still reaps gift's rewards - Rowan Milestones", The Philadelphia Inquirer, July 9, 2002. Accessed August 1, 2007. "Rowan University catapulted onto the national stage a decade ago when industrialist Henry Rowan gave sleepy Glassboro State College $100 million, the largest single sum ever donated to a public institution.... Rowan and his late wife, Betty, gave the money on July 6, 1992, with just one requirement: that a first-rate engineering school be built. In gratitude, Glassboro State changed its name to Rowan College."
  21. ↑ Celis 3d, William (1993). "Clinton Hails Annenberg's $500 Million Education Gift" (online). The New York Times (December 18). Retrieved 28 January 2016. The $500 million gift, to be awarded in the form of matching grants over five years, will help underwrite the efforts of schools to restructure their programs. / Mr. Annenberg, who this year alone has donated nearly $1 billion to education, added: 'We must ask ourselves whether improving education will halt violence. If anyone can think of a better way, we may have to try that, but the way I see this tragedy, education is the most wholesome and effective approach.'
  22. ↑ Adam Cohen and Aixa M. Pascual (29 September 1997). "Ted Turner: Putting His Money...". Time. Retrieved 27 April 2011.
  23. ↑ Dyan Machan (1 June 1998), Tim Wirth's Shopping List, Forbes Magazine v.161
  24. 1 2 Steinberg, Jacques (November 7, 2003). "Billions and Billions Served, Hundreds of Millions Donated". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-07-28. National Public Radio announced yesterday that it had received a bequest worth at least $200 million from the widow of the longtime chairman of the McDonald's restaurant chain.... Few cultural institutions have been the beneficiaries of gifts as large as that received by NPR, according to The Chronicle of Philanthropy. One of the largest, worth $424 million, was given to the Metropolitan Museum of Art by foundations built on the Reader's Digest fortune.
  25. ↑ Staley, Oliver (2011). "Philanthropy: T. Boone Pickens, OSU's Big, Big Man on Campus" (online). BloombergBusiness (April 14). Retrieved 28 January 2016. "T. Boone Pickens, the Texas oilman turned hedge fund investor, says he had a simple motivation for giving more than $500 million to his alma mater, Oklahoma State University: He got sick of watching the school's football team, the Cowboys, lose. "I quit coming to homecoming games because we got beat," says Pickens. "I don't like that feeling." / … Pickens, who graduated from what was then Oklahoma A&M in 1951, wasn't a big benefactor until 2002, when he contributed $20 million toward the $293 million renovation of OSU's football stadium, which now bears his name. Three years later he donated $165 million to the school's athletic department. … / Pickens's 2005 gift of $165 million was intended to narrow the gap between the two schools. His millions, along with an additional $37 million from OSU's endowment, were invested with Pickens's hedge fund, BP Capital. The investment had more than doubled in value, to $407 million, by June 2008. Then the financial crisis hit. By the time the school cashed out in November 2008, all that was left was $125 million. Pickens, who agreed to waive his management fees, says he didn't profit in any way from the arrangement. Holder says the school acted in good faith. "I'd do it all over again," he says.
  26. ↑ Riedel, David (2010). "Facebook CEO to Gift $100M to Newark Schools" (online). CBS News (September 22). Retrieved 28 January 2016. "The New York Times reports Wednesday night that Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, has made an arrangement to donate $100 million to improve Newark, N.J., public schools. Part of the arrangement includes a deal that lets Newark mayor Cory Booker exercise more control of the state-run schools, according to the Times. … New Jersey governor Chris Christie will make the announcement with Zuckerberg and Booker on the "Oprah Winfrey Show" Friday, according to the Times. … Newark's public schools are long troubled. The state took control of them in 1995. The deal reached between Mayor Booker and Gov. Christie will not give Booker outright control of the schools or change the state's power over them, reports the Times. Instead, Booker will be a strong voice in choosing a new superintendent of schools. The state will retain the right to take control of the school system.
  27. ↑ Karmali, Naazneen (2013). "Azim Premji Donates $2.3 Billion After Signing Giving Pledge" (online). Forbes (February 23). Retrieved 28 January 2016. Days after tech tycoon Azim Premji officially announced he’d signed the Giving Pledge, the Indian billionaire made his biggest philanthropic donation ever: Premji, ranked as India’s third richest person with a fortune of over $13 billion, announced Friday that he is donating $2.2 billion, or a 12% stake, in his IT outsourcer Wipro, to a trust to fund his education-focused Azim Premji Foundation.
  28. ↑ "James Packer’s gift to Australia: Crown Resorts will pump $200 million into charities over the next ten years". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  29. ↑ O'Connor, Clare. "The Education Of Oprah Winfrey: How She Saved Her South African School". Forbes.
  30. ↑ Goode, Darren. "Republican pledges $175 million to push party on climate". Politico. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
  31. ↑ "Mike Lazaridis Donates Additional $50 Million to Perimeter Institute". Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. Retrieved 2008-12-06.

See also

External links

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