The Problems of Modern Philanthropy

I think of philanthropy as a type of idea marketplace for public goods, funded by private capital. Like all idea marketplaces – startups, media, philosophy – it’s inherently pluralistic. We don’t have a single government-funded media channel, for example, but instead get our news, entertainment, and ideas from a multitude of sources.

The key reason that so much more money enters the stock market and the early-stage funding worlds than enters the charity or nonprofit worlds is that investors are not patrons. They are not simply supporting things out of the kindness of their hearts. Rather than relying on selfless giving, these sectors of society rely on selfish giving - and cons... See more

If philanthropy is pluralistic – and, like any idea marketplace, that is one of its virtues – then there is no single school of thought that can “solve” complex social questions, because everyone has a different vision for the world. If you’re pro-pluralism in startups, you should also be pro-pluralism in philanthropy.

The influence of commercial consultancies has reinforced this con-servatism, promoting approaches to philanthropy that never question, let alone challenge, power structures or systems, seeking niche solutions rather than structural ones, and backing already proven ideas rather than opening out to new ones. The net effect of these big consultancies

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The ideal of the Citizen approach is having everyone pay fair taxes, to a government in which everyone has a meaningful stake; philanthropy explicitly works against this by shielding wealth from taxation. In the Consumer Story, we ask ourselves what we as individuals are getting in return for our taxes. In a Citizen society, we recognise the tax we

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