philanthropy

The idea that charitable foundations should be required to hire more minority employees, was regrettably framed as a "threat" to philanthropy in an article in The Economist a few weeks ago.

Philanthropy has work to do. And it's not simply to be charitable and feed the hungry. The scale of United States national debt is so big - we're talking $11-14 trillion - and there is national, state, and municipal deficits too. Meanwhile, the amount of money held in most foundations for social justice and community-based activism is growing smaller still.

Can solutions to social problems really be found by the forces that help create them? I just finished reading Michel Kingsely's Creative Capitalism: A Conversation with Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and Other Economic Leaders.

There is a lot of talk about the impact of current economic crisis on philanthropy. Amongst colleagues there are serious considerations of options. However some of the ideas being considered are quite inappropriate and perhaps even dangerous.