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Philanthropy and Inequality

       As we have been conducting our site visits, the outside reading has become much more important. The reading for this past Thursday, when we conducted our site visit to Identity, was about how philanthropy impacts the inequality that has played a role in society for a very long time. I feel this is a very important aspect to think about when thinking about philanthropy. This argument essentially boils down to the difference between justice and charity. Justice is more about righting old wrongs and other things that have been seen as issues for a long time. The reasons for philanthropy based in justice are more about things that happened in the past and fixing them by giving in such a way that removes the inequality that was created as a result.
The article provided some suggestions in helping promote philanthropy that truly removes inequality. The first suggestion to ensure that the philanthropist is truly supporting justice over charity is to become involved with the leadership of the area which the philanthropist desires to support. The philanthropist must do this in order to understand the resources of the area, and where they are over or under funded. This knowledge helps the philanthropist make much smarter decisions with where their money goes, which could make a huge difference in the community. The next suggestion is to consider the historical background surrounding the inequality issue. This involves doing some research on the topic, in order to understand the inequality that is trying to be removed. For example, a philanthropist attempting to support underprivileged African Americans would first need to understand that the inequalities they are trying to exist today could originate as far back as the days of slavery. The third consideration should be to get an in person experience with the community the philanthropist is trying to serve. This removes the blind giving that has become so prevalent in society. Simply giving the organization a grant form and evaluating the words they write is not an accurate evaluation. Getting some in person experience, just as we have with our site visits, is extremely important.
These suggestions, combined with many of the other things we have learned thus far, are great pointers to help level the playing field. By learning more about the difference between justice and charity, we can work to remove inequalities in society, even the ones that have been compounded over many many years. We have learned in class about how large of a difference a donation to the right charity can make. Even a small donation to the right charity could mean much more than a large donation to any other charity. It could completely change the entire landscape of philanthropy, and even the landscape of the current society as a whole. 

Comments

  1. I like that you pointed this out as I believe it ties in well with the class, specifically the reason we are doing site visits. You mentioned that it is important for a philanthropist to understand the background and the challenges that the community they are seeking to make an impact on. This is exactly what our site visits try to show and explain to the class. For me personally when visiting the Identity center for Southern Tier Aids, I felt that the most important thing I learned was the background and the struggles of LQBTQ+ youth, that I had never been able to understand or think of in my personal experience. It made me look at the organization in a different way, since for me, I do not experience many of the issues that face that community.

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  2. Thomas,
    Basing your blog post off of a specfic reading allows for an in-depth analysis and conversation within our class about the particular topic at hand, which I think is important in making our final decision.

    In Hannah's blog post that was also for this week, she wrote more from an opinion based standpoint, and discussed ideas about how human welfare based non profits contribute to the inequality present in our society. But she also wrote about the way in which our class is going about making this decision, which I feel greatly relates to your blog post about justice vs charity.

    Now before I say anything, I want to also include the article's definition of charity: charitable giving ignores past realities that forced communities into oppressive situations, and risks reinforcing the givers' lack of understanding. Charitable giving may relieve some guilt people feel, but it is not admirable. I think that our class is leaning more toward charity-driven philanthropy than justice-driven philanthropy. Just simply giving the grants to the two organizations that we end up deciding on will cause some change, but it won't really be solving any issues. I feel that maybe instead of site visits where the organizations ultimately put on a show for us, we should be going and volunteering so that we are directly helping, and so we are more in-touch with the community, one of the things philanthropists should be doing. I have learned in this class that simply volunteering also counts as philanthropy, so it would not be that far-fetched that we spent some class time doing hands on work.

    However, I disagree with saying that there is a "right" organization that we can choose to give money to. All of the organizations are trying to help people and make change within the community, so couldn't they all be considered "right" organizations?

    I am not saying that the work our class is doing is bad, I think that we are taking the first steps toward change by becoming educated about the issues that exist within the community. I think that instead of just getting the money and deciding on two organizations each year to donate to, the Philanthropy and Civil Society class has the opportunity to make real change. If every year we use the money to work alongside different organizations, maybe fund events for the community to go to so that the leadership is aware, and each year builds upon the work of prior classes, justice might be achievable. I don't know if this is possible based on the rules set by the Learning by Giving Foundation, but I think it is a thought to be considered.

    Jillian Vargas

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  3. Francesca SpinelliApril 9, 2019 at 11:21 PM

    Hi Thomas,

    I really appreciate this blog post. You really captured what it takes for a philanthropist to truly understand what they are contributing to. You highlighted the importance of understanding not only what you are giving to but why you should give to the organization in the first place. When I first read your blog post it reminded me of a video I watched in my mental health in education class last spring. The video discussed the difference between empathy and sympathy, an understanding that I feel is important in contributing to your argument here. While I do not think all monetary decisions should be made out of empathy alone, I do believe it plays a critical role in the giving process. Empathy fuels connection where as sympathy drives disconnection. The video describes four qualities of empathy that I think are relevant in your steps to promote equality amongst people. These qualities are; perspective taking, the ability to take the perspective of another person, staying out of judgment, and recognizing emotions in other people. I found these qualities to be similar to those steps you described. I think that these striking resemblances highlight the importance of heart in decision making process and that we cannot make philanthropic efforts solely based off rationale or a piece of paper. In order give fully we must have a connection to the work we are contributing to.

    If anyone is interested in the video I mentioned here's the link. Definitely worth a watch if you have a minute! It certainly changed my perspective on things.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Evwgu369Jw

    -Francesca Spinelli

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  4. I love this discussion and differentiation between justice and charity because it is something that I have take great attention in using charity as a vehicle for justice but not as the full measure. I talk a lot about my Jewish faith and how it has impacted my approach to philanthropy in this class because my upbringing focused not only on channeling my faith to help others, but in pursuing justice. There is a Jewish proverb that goes "צדק צדק תרדף" which translates to "Justice, justice shall you pursue" and it teaches us that we are to seek the truth and justice in all walks of life above all other things.

    Because of this, I have always believed that charity, while incredibly noble, is obviously a stop-gap measure on the road to facilitating quantitative and qualitative justice for past wrongs. I love how you frame philanthropy in the same light, where good philanthropists place a high premium on the historical background of an issue they want to tackle as opposed to an everyday person who donates to charity to help keep a person's head above water. This is where I think the divide is that you are talking about, charity helps people get around obstacles, while philanthropy strives to remove them entirely so no one's path is obstructed.

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  5. Hi Thomas,

    I think there is one line in your post that really stuck out to me. It is: “The reasons for philanthropy based in justice are more about things that happened in the past and fixing them by giving in such a way that removes the inequality that was created as a result.” I think this was very well written and further clarifies how philanthropy and justice are connected. I also definitely agree that getting first-hand experience is extremely important in deciding how to donate money. Even just through our class, I have found that my opinions of certain organizations have changed from before and after the site visits. Seeing the organizations’ work and impact in real-time can completely alter how I perceive them. This goes also for communities, as you mentioned. To fully comprehend the priorities of a community, one must get involved. This will change the possible impact philanthropists can cause in their respective areas as well as how informed they are on societal issues. Overall I think this post was very interesting and pointed out some good points about how philanthropy and social justice are related.

    - Sara Baldwin

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  6. Like C.S. Lewis said, “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” We all learn the history of this country in school. We all learn about the sufferings of those in the past. We all learn about how much they had to fight to get to where we are today. I think your blog post is extremely important as it admits to the dark past this country has that many people wish to pretend did not exist. The ratification of the 19th Amendment that finally gave women the right to vote did not happen that long ago (1920), the African-American Civil Rights Movement did not happen that long ago (1964-1968), and the legalization of same-sex marriage only happened 4 years ago on June 26, 2015.

    In response to our site visits these past couple weeks, I wanted to expand on the third suggestion to “get an in-person experience with the community.” Passion is contagious. When I first read about the American Civic Association through the grant form, I felt what they did was important, but not as important as the finalists I had chosen. I was proven wrong when we visited the ACA and learned about the struggles immigrants have to face on a daily basis in person, I could tell how much the volunteers and workers truly cared about helping immigrants and providing them support. It was the site visit that essentially changed my mind about the organization being a finalist. This is a benefit to having an in-person experience. People are introduced to a different type of personal connection to an organization, one where they want to do more than donate. Personally, after my site visits with the ACA and STAP, I felt like I wanted to do more. I told my mom the wonderful things they do, I let my friends know that we could volunteer there, and any chance I got I brought it up in the conversation. This spread of passion is the solution to truly removing inequality.

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  7. Hi Thomas,

    I am curious about the third consideration mentioned in the article. To me, having personal experience is not supremely important in donating to nonprofits. I acknowledge that it is certainly helpful to have some sort of experience with an organization. However, I believe that I do not require a personal connection with an organization to efficiently engage in philanthropy. I don't need to have a distinct relationship with the LGBT community or the STAP volunteers to make an impactful donation. I don't need to travel to areas that were decimated by natural disasters for my donations to be more significant. Again, I agree that having personal experiences are a positive aspect to philanthropy. I simply believe that site visits or other personal experiences are not required to make an accurate evaluation. However, I agree with the other considerations. In my opinion, having proper leadership to talk to and knowing the history of these communities is a requirement when donating properly.

    - Christian Sayage

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