George McCully
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A re-interpretation and strategic overview of philanthropy—its meaning and values, greatest accomplishments, current transformations, and future directions—based on close analysis of historical sources, and 25 years' practical experience in all aspects of philanthropy.
Chapter I: “ Promethean Fire: the Archetype” — from its first coinage in ancient Greece, in Prometheus Bound, philanthropia meant “the love of humanity”, or of what it is to be human, an educational and cultural ideal;
Chapter II: “ Philanthropy’s Finest Hour: the American Revolution” — the Revolution as philanthropy in action—how Classical philanthropy through voluntary associations produced a “purportedly philanthropic nation”, created by and for philanthropy;
Chapter III: “ Philanthropy Yesterday and Today” — how 20th-century growth and professionalization made philanthropy paradigmatic, but neglected Classical values, and how we are now in a paradigm-shift, in which philanthropy is being thoroughly transformed;
Chapter IV: “ The Future of Philanthropy” — how the paradigm-shift analysis illuminates issues facing Old Paradigm institutions, and current trends suggesting a probable future;
Chapter V: “ Philanthropy Reborn”— how a possible New Paradigm, uniting Classical ideals with Internet-based operations, might benefit donors, grantmakers, philanthropic advisors, trustees, executive directors, scholars, media journalists, teachers and students, as well as civic, religious and political leaders.
Appendix I: "Case Study: the Catalogue for Philanthropy in Massachusetts." Exemplifies the current paradigm-shift.
Appendix II: "A Taxonomic Tree of Philanthropy" A donor-friendly presentation of how the fields of philanthropy constitute a coherent whole.
Appendix III: "Bibliographical Notes" Suggested further readings.
George McCully brings to this book knowledge, experience and skills gained from two careers—first for 20 years as professor of European intellectual and cultural history, from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment; then for 25 years as professional philanthropist—fundraiser, strategic planner, executive director, trustee, and advisor to charities, foundations, families and individual donors. In 1997 he created the highly respected and influential Massachusetts Catalogue for Philanthropy, to promote charitable giving and strengthen the culture of philanthropy through donor-education. Mailed annually to 120,000 affluent households statewide, with articles about philanthropy supported by descriptions of (in twelve years) over 900 charities, the cumulative Catalogues are today the most thorough, empirical, and detailed description, defense, and advocacy of philanthropy ever published (cf. www.cfp-ma.org)
I. Promethean Fire: the Archetype
A. Context
Very few people today, even professionals, know what the word “philanthropy”
means, or how it relates to charitable giving. I have posed the question
at professional meetings, and found that not only are there almost as many
definitions as there are people in the room, but that few if any care what
it means—they see no particular value in defining it. Until recently, it was
rarely used; many considered it too fancy and even pretentious for ordinary
purposes, so they inclined to the much simpler word and concept, “giving.”
Today, though it has become a household word—which is good—its
meaning is still lost; folks use it to refer loosely to charitable giving or
organizations (which is a start), or worse, to the “non-profit,” “voluntary,”
or “social” “sector.”
This is how great ideas die, which is in this case tragic, because in truth
“philanthropy” has a clear, powerful, inspiring, donor-friendly, meaning and
history, which we would do well now to revive.
There are three main ways to define words: by conventional usage—what
most ordinary people mean when they use it; by etymology—analysis of its
parts in root languages; and/or by its history, carefully selecting the more
useful precedents. Usually these methods are combined, trying to be reasonable,
practical, and significantly useful, while avoiding pedantry on the
one hand or banality on the other. With “philanthropy” the confusion and
chaos of current usage needs correction by etymology and history.
II. Philanthropy’s Finest Hour: the American Revolution
A. Introduction
We have noted that few practitioners in “philanthropy” today care very
much how the word is defined, and that what we have called the “Classical”
humanistic or humane concept of philanthropy, based on its original coinage
in Prometheus Bound, has a clear and inspiring meaning and tradition which
can be stated in modern terms as, “private initiatives for public good, focusing
on quality of life.”
So—what? Does any of this matter? This chapter offers a case in point.
American historians, through no particular fault of their own, have not
known that “private initiatives for public good, focusing on quality of life”
might be a subject for historical study. If, for example, “philanthropy” is
defined as “rich people helping poor people,” it is then a subject that is
marginal at best in American historiography—nice, decorative, perfectly
respectable, but relatively trivial to the main lines of interpretation of our
national development and experience. If, on the other hand, “private initiatives
for public good, focusing on quality of life” is an objective phenomenon,
it can be studied, especially when it is institutionalized—a subject of historical
analysis paralleling the histories of government and of the economy, the
other two sectors. In that case, it suggests a reconsideration of our national
history—not least because ours is the first modern democracy, a form of
government in which philanthropy plays a leading role. “Democratic and
philanthropic” springs to life as a subject for historical review.
In this chapter, to exemplify the potential fruits of such a review, we shall
focus on the American Revolution and the founding of our national gov20
ernment. This will not be a history of those events, but rather an analysis of
their philanthropic content and its significance. The Revolutionary period
was certainly a time, and perhaps the only one so far, when America had a
leading culture that might be called “philanthropic.” A hardy perennial question
for historians and others ever since has been, What made our Founding
Fathers so extraordinarily gifted and high-minded in their great work together?
The answer we propose is: their philanthropy, in the Classical mode.
If this is so, it has instructional and edifying value for us today—it means
that we already have an example to learn from, not just of individual heroic
American philanthropist role-models, but of what a philanthropic culture
might be and do for our national history....
B. The Case in Point
Alexander Hamilton, in the opening paragraph of the very first Federalist
Paper, launched the Founders’ advocacy for the ratification of our Constitution
with these words:
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“It has been frequently remarked that it seems to have been reserved
to the people of this country, by their conduct and example, to decide
the important question, whether societies of men are really capable
or not of establishing good government from reflection and choice,
or whether they are forever destined to depend for their political
constitutions on accident and force. If there be any truth in the remark,
the crisis at which we are arrived may with propriety be regarded as
the era in which that decision is to be made; and a wrong election of
the part we shall act may, in this view, deserve to be considered as the
general misfortune of mankind.
This idea will add the inducements of philanthropy to those of
patriotism, to heighten the solicitude which all considerate and good
men must feel for the event. Happy will it be if our choice should be
directed by a judicious estimate of our true interests, unperplexed and
unbiased by considerations not connected with the public good.”
[Emphases mine.]
