NorCalUrban

Came across this today... "Christians pride themselves upon an ethic that exceeds the requirements of law. But it is significant that Jews, schooled in their legalistic tradition and also the inheritors of the prophetic spirit, are on the whole more depth in the field of justice than Christians. They might well say to Christians what Cosimo de'Medici said to Catholics in the Renaissance: "You have built your ladders into the heavens. We will not seek so high or sink so low." Christian businessman are more frequently characterized by a spirit of philanthropy than by a spirit of justice in asserting the claims and counterclaims of economic groups. Love in the form of philanthropy is, in fact, on a lower level than a high form of justice. For philanthropy is given to those who make no claims against us, who do not challenge our goodness or disinterestedness. An act of philanthropy may thus be an expression of both power and moral complacency. An act of justice on the ot...

New York Times Article on the debate regarding the societal benefits of non profit donations. It's a somewhat rambling article, but my feeling is that this is a brewing debate. Eli Broad, a billionaire businessman, has given away more than $650 million over the last five years, to Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to establish a medical research institute, to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and to programs to improve the administration of urban schools and public education."What smart entrepreneurial philanthropists and their foundations do is get greater value for how they invest their money than if the government were doing it." "I got a plaque in the mail and an invitation to an awards ceremony. I never gave them another nickel. What were they spending money on plaques for?" The rich are giving more to charity than ever, but people like Mr. Broad are not the only ones footing the bill for such generosity. For every three dollars the...

Young, entrepreneurial philanthropists leave their mark on nonprofits here and abroad Early employment at Google has enabled Khan and her husband Zain to become philanthropists in a fashion once reserved for wealthy retirees. They donate money, sit on nonprofit boards and volunteer. Younger donors are fully invested in their contributions, seeking to apply their business savvy and expecting to see quantifiable outcomes from the organizations they fund. They also view their contributions as social investments. For them, the lines are blurring between for-profit and nonprofit ventures. Analogies to venture capitalists and stock-market investors have begun to permeate the language of philanthropy. Hero likened Silicon Valley charitable gifts to investing in the stock market. Through increasingly popular donor-advised funds through community foundations or financial management companies like Charles Schwab or Merrill Lynch, philanthropists are choosing to diversify their gifts. Find the en...