Philanthropy. When I first heard the word, I had to look it up. It's a long and complicated definition of Greek origin. That's fitting, because helping others is complicated.
Statistics for financial gift giving are somewhat revealing. Conservatives are more giving than liberals. Liberals tend to be very generous with other peoples' money, but more stingy with their own. Conservatives are much more generous with their own money, but their charities tend to be extensions of themselves. The greatest majority of their contribution goes to their religious affiliation. That benefits others, but also indirectly benefits themselves.
The deeper that you look into the subject, the more you begin to understand the difficulty. At one extreme, you contribute to your ego's agenda. At the other extreme, you wind up giving drinks to drunks. But the need for help is real. How do you go about helping others without contributing to their problems?
In my younger years, as soon as I had a little expendable income, I started giving. I would send $10-20 every month to any charity that showed up in my mailbox. I also added to my utility bill to help people with trouble paying electricity.
It made me feel good about myself. I believed that I was doing good and helping others in need. It was so simple. Put a check in the mail and feel righteous. Then a friend told me a little bit more about "non-profit" institutions.
He told me about the IRS mandated form 1090. It was public access for non-profit institutions and declared the percent of income towards the cause and the other "administration" expense.
I did a little more research about my mailbox charities. All charities are not equal. To my dismay, many of the charities that I was giving to had substantial "administration" costs! I could imagine some administrator driving away from his cush desk job in his shiny new Porsche Carrera.
Where was that administrator when I was working (free) overtime? Where was he when I was in the fab at 2am on Christmas morning? Where was he when I was being evaluated by medical staff after being exposed to poisonous chemicals? Where was he when I saw my life flash before my eyes in the seat of a crane? In every case, I expect that he was snug as a bug in a rug, enjoying a pleasant sleep in a warm bed.
The more I learned, the less righteous satisfaction I got from sharing. I still continued to share, but I became a lot more discriminating, and as a result, I shared less. When a person has to sacrifice and work hard for the money, it takes on a greater value. And it should, because money is the best representation we have of past service and production.
So how do the wealthy elite go about helping others? They are approached in a myriad of ways. Some needs are legit, but many are not. Money wasted on a shifty cause takes away from the real needs. So how do they tell the difference in a flood of needy requests?
I have known a few multi-millionaires and witnessed their dilemma. In one case, I personally knew the people in need and their cause. I donated $200 and the multi-millionaire donated $100. The recipients were not impressed by the rich giver's donation. They shared the letter that accompanied the donation.
The letter was heart-felt and offered advice. I could read in the tone of the letter the difficulty that the giver had with managing the abundance of requests for monetary help.
So I suspect that big and small philanthropists struggle with the same cynicism. I remember reading about Warren Buffett approaching the subject. He came to understand that he was doing a lot of the same diligence as Bill and Melinda Gates and decided to throw in with them.
I suppose that there have always been posers, beggars, and drunks. It's just that some of them have evolved with modern life so it's not quite so obvious what they are. Nobody wants to give a dollar to them only to discover a real need tomorrow and wish that you had that dollar to give.
A poor man is a lousy philanthropist. He is not going to build libraries or hospitals. But maybe he can help a neighbor or a stranger on occasion. I only recently learned of a case that my earlier giving did benefit a legitimate need. That was a good feeling. I would like to do it again.
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