Philanthropy

Philanthropy and community development: the vital signs of community foundation?

“…As the use of private resources -time, treasure, talent -for public benefit and social change, philanthropy covers a spectrum of socio-cultural traditions (Phillips and Jung, 2016 forthcoming). Directions of 'public benefit' and 'social change' are however, unless legally proscribed, matters for donors' choice and one of the key challenges of philanthropy has been donor goal dominance and limited or absent accountabilities (Harrow, 2009(Harrow, ,2010. Philanthropic resource provision ranges from 'top down' forms, philanthropic gift-giving, reliant on significant wealth, its inter-generational transmission and control (Reich, 2015), to 'ground up' gift-giving as local communal actions, producing mutual support.…”

Philanthropic Foundations, Public Good and Public Policy

“…The very act of creating a foundation rather than giving directly to a charity can be seen as an exercise in control (Harrow 2010 ).…”

“…There is a view that foundations are becoming more rather than less controlling (Harrow 2010 ). According to Eisenberg, 60 % of US foundations do not accept unsolicited applications and there seems to be a growing tendency for foundations to decide who may apply for a grant.…”

Philanthropy is Dead; Long Live Philanthropy?

“…While governmental social and public policies usually are and ought to be contested and debated, this has rarely been the case in relation to philanthropy, especially as individual wealth has traditionally often been constructed as apolitical and independent of the means by and basis on which it was acquired (Nickel and Eikenberry 2010). Do the values, ideas and activities of philanthropists relate to and address the needs of welfare and/or post-welfare statesor even of those who are perceived as 'needy' (Kidd 1996;Harrow 2010;Pharoah 2011)? Does philanthropy provide the anticipated impact and outcomes?…”

“…Siedel 2001;Manuel 2006;Hamann 2009;Harrow 2010;Imada 2010;Mersiyanova and Yakobsen 2010;Schuyt 2010). Accelerated by the global economic downturn, factors that have contributed to this trend include: the challenges arising from changing demographics; the inter-generational transfer of, and uneven increase in, global wealth; the advent of 'philanthrocapitalism' and the growing popularity of social enterprise and corporate social responsibility; as well as the perceived demise of the 'welfare state' and a renewed interest in 'localism' as governments have realized that developments at supra-local level are beyond their control (Bernholz 2000;Brenner and Theodore 2002;Bradford 2005).…”