Monday, November 25, 2013

Charity vs philanthropy


This month you will have been in a world where people in the Phillipines are crying out for basic necessities while million dollar gifts are on the rise to universities. Is this a dilemma for you as a fundraiser?
I believe not. But the dichotomy is illustrative of a wider principal – the distinction between charity and philanthropy.  The distinction is practical not semantic.  The roots of both words (one Greek one Latin) are comparable.  “Love” is in the etymology of both.  Both have been used interchangeably in the English and other languages for centuries.  Yet in practice there is I believe a distinction.

I have friends in the Philippines who are volunteering to help provide the essentials of life to their fellow citizens in some of the more remote regions of Cebu.  They point out that 150 pesos (about $3.50) = 3 packets of noodles, 2 canned goods, 1.25liter of drinking water , 2kilos of rice.  A modest contribution can make a big difference to one or more person’s individual condition.

Contrast this with gifts to Australia universities by Andrew and Nicola Forrest  or Graeme and Louise Tuckwell.  These multi million dollar gifts will fund research and scholarship.  What will be done through enhanced research and scholarship?  Or rather, a better question is what has been achieved throughout history by researchers and scholars?  We may not live in a perfect world but the achievements and progress we enjoy has to a large degree been the fruit of  education and inquiry.

The analogy, it seems to me is with curing symptoms and finding causes.  Both are essential. Charity and philanthropy are both essential.  We need to develop expertise at both.

Another paradox was in the philanthropy news this month.  Bill Gates - channelling Peter Singer - asked “why anyone would donate money to build a new wing for a museum rather than spend it on preventing illnesses that can lead to blindness?”

The essence of that dilemma was encapsulated by this remark in the Wall  Street Journal.  “Somerset Maugham said in his novel Cakes and Ale: ‘Beauty is an ecstasy; it is as simple as hunger’." Philanthropy has a role in contributing to both.
What do you think?