Opinion | the Impossible Math of Philanthropy - The New York Times
the focus on data, transactions, return on investment. I’ll buy my way to a better world, to a clearer conscience, to heaven – that’s the dynamic, the assumption. What is eclipsed by the calculations, however, is the complex context that gives rise to any of these charitable ‘causes.’ History, trauma, economic exploitation, relationships – all thes
... See moreJon Alexander • Citizens: Why the Key to Fixing Everything is All of Us
“the cause” is defined extremely narrowly: if hunger, then soup—but not the spoon, the bowl, the stove, the fundraiser that got the money for the stove, or the postage on the thank-you note sent to the donor who donated the money for the stove. Just the soup molecules themselves.
Dan Pallotta • Charity Case: How the Nonprofit Community Can Stand Up For Itself and Really Change the World
A small minority of foundations are in fact interested in systems change, radical action on poverty and disadvantage, and programmes like the Omidyar Group’s ‘Imaginable Futures’.6 But the big money steers well clear.
Geoff Mulgan • Another World Is Possible: How to Reignite Social and Political Imagination
"“If you put these five things together - you can't use money to attract talent, you can't advertise, you can't take risks, you can't invest in long-term results, and you don't have a stock market - then we have just put the humanitarian sector at the most extreme disadvantage to the for-profit sector on every level, and then we call the whole syst... See more