Philanthropy for Growth

Stephen Jordan at the US Chamber's Business Civic Leadership Center has a nice blog post today-- Some Modest Proposals for Generous Billionaires --that calls for philanthropy that seeks to generate new philanthropists by focusing infrastructure for wealth creation.  Jordan writes:

Too often, we tend to think of philanthropy in redistributionist terms, not in terms of growth. Yes, some philanthropy should focus on immediate, humanitarian issues – people are dying today, and there are situationally urgent things that need to be taken care of. But at the same time, improvement, progress, or whatever you want to call it, depends on foresightedness too.

As more billionaires sign on to The Giving Pledge, I hope that they will invest as much in platforms for productivity and the future as they do in giving back to the present.

Unfortunately, Jordan lapses into the rhetoric of strategic collaborations, quoting  Rhonda Mims from the ING Foundation--"I don't think it's necessary to create more non-profits or private foundations to solve societal issues but more important is to form collaborations focused on strategic plans to tackle big issues like education reform, global warming, financial literacy, etc." 

Unfortunately, such "collaborations" --which can tend to become philanthropic cartels-- can often drive out genuine entrepreneurship in philanthropy and social action.  Collaboration is a good, but not THE good.  Let's hope philanthropists give competition it's due, too!