Understanding Philanthropy: Its Meaning and Mission

4. The World Can Be Made Better: Philanthropy as Moral Action

4 The World Can Be Made Better: Philanthropy as Moral Action In previous chapters, we have made the point that philanthropy is “moral action” and that the moral dimension of philanthropy is the most important. The connection to morality, we argued in chapter 2, is the defining feature of philanthropy and the nonprofit sector, the essential dimension and unifying idea that most distinguishes it from government and the marketplace. But moral action and morality are terms that could mean very different things to different readers, so it is essential to clarify what we mean by them in our theory of philanthropy. In essence, we have introduced two general understandings of how philanthropy is moral action, which we now address more deeply in this chapter: 1. Philanthropy is the primary vehicle people use to implement their moral imagination and to shape and advance the moral agenda of our society. 2. Philanthropy is about voluntarily intervening in other people’s lives for their benefit, to do them good and to advance the public good, and in this way philanthropic action is inherently moral. The first meaning of philanthropy as moral action is one that will be illustrated in the following chapter as well. It is one of the positive social roles for philanthropy that lead us to prefer this affirmative conception over other ways of thinking about the sector such as nonprofit. The story of philanthropy in any society is the story of people coming together in voluntary associations around an expression of moral imagination—such as a definition that something is wrong, and a call for a specific response to make things better—and then engaging in voluntary giving and service (including advocacy) to advance that moral mission. Taken together, these philanthropic efforts are a primary and indispensable means by which any society’s moral agenda is crafted. The public arena of action that we label philanthropy, as many theorists of the nonprofit sector have noted, is often the place where new causes, new expressions of values, and innovative new solutions to social problems are first introduced, including competing causes and solutions. And so philanthropy deals with the whole gamut of the most important moral issues and debates confronting a society such as the United States, from concerns over growing wealth inequalities to the debate over whether Internet gambling is a vice to be regulated, and on and on. The second meaning of philanthropy as moral action concerns the practical ethics and principles of philanthropic action. People are acting morally when they presume to come to the aid of others as an act of mercy or they intervene voluntarily to improve the quality of life and advance the public good. To act morally is to act with regard to and for others , beyond one’s concern for oneself, particularly when that action is voluntary ; voluntary action for the public good is moral action. But such voluntary moral action, as Good Samaritans know, is difficult and fraught with uncertainty or even peril. The middle section of this chapter examines some of the principles, questions, and concepts that can help guide people who engage in this sort of moral action. And we conclude the chapter by outlining a practical philosophy—the pragmatist doctrine of “meliorism”—that we think best expresses the worldview behind philanthropy as moral action and that encapsulates much of what we have been saying about the rationale for philanthropy in human societies. Meliorism is the doctrine that the world can be made better through rightly directed human effort. That is the philosophy of philanthropy at its pithiest . It is also a good answer to the question “Why does philanthropy exist?” The World Can Be Made Better / 97 Philanthropy, the Moral Imagination, and the Moral Agenda Distinctive Expressions of the Moral Imagination Philanthropy is about the search for the good life and the good society through good works—our own and those of others. Of course, there is no such thing as the good life or the good society. The “good life” seems to have as many definitions as there are people. The “good society” may have as many definitions as there are communities. Each of us has our own definitions of these ideals or at least our own hunches. We have dispositions and preferences and wishes for something better. And in social life we often find ourselves reaching toward the same goals as other people we know or...