Understanding Philanthropy: Its Meaning and Mission

6. Philanthropy, Democracy, and the Future

6 Philanthropy, Democracy, and the Future This chapter provides the final piece of our explanation of why philanthropy exists and, moreover, why it should exist. It describes a vital role of philanthropy in society and considers how to ensure the persistence of that role in the future. The first half discusses how philanthropy is essential to a free, open, and democratic society. The second half looks to the future and considers the need to be good stewards of the tradition of philanthropy and to pass it on through expanded education about philanthropy . Like all traditions, philanthropy in any society must be actively preserved and transmitted, or else it is in jeopardy of decline, a decline that would have far-reaching consequences. Understanding how philanthropy is essential to the sorts of democratic societies that we want is a crucial step in the process of preserving it for the future. Philanthropy Is Essential to a Democratic Society The future of free, open, and democratic societies is directly linked to the vitality of the philanthropic tradition in those societies. It is not possible for a democracy to thrive without a healthy philanthropic sector. This is an important part of the rationale for philanthropy that we present in this book. While we have emphasized elements of this role for philanthropy in previous chapters, we elaborate on these contributions here and consider their constitutional basis and democratic consequences. We illustrate our assertions mostly with reference to the example of how philanthropy helps ensure a healthy democracy in the United States, but similar arguments can be made about other democracies.1 The “advocacy role” and the “civic role” of philanthropy are clearly essential in democracies. But other activities—helping to meet public needs and responding to human problems, shaping the moral agenda, and expressing cultural values—also play a vital role in maintaining (and reforming ) effective and stable modern democracies. While philanthropic institutions like the League of Women Voters or the American Civil Liberties Union help to make American democracy work, other groups assist in their own way. The private university trains future civic leaders. The American Medical Association maintains a trusted profession that every citizen depends on (while, of course, also lobbying extensively to shape health care policy). The faith-based community group is able to counsel and reform gang members in a way the police or other parts of government cannot. The historical preservation society works with planners in city government and private developers to protect a shared heritage so it can be passed on to future generations. We have argued in this book that philanthropy plays an essential role in defining, advocating, and achieving the public good. Philanthropic actions are a key part of the ongoing public deliberation about what the public good is and how best to pursue it, and we also know that philanthropy advances the public good through other activities like providing services the public needs or wants, from daycare to opera. Of course, philanthropy makes this sort of public good contribution to democracy alongside government . Both government and philanthropy provide public goods. Sometimes they do so in partnership—government money is a primary source of funding for nonprofit organizations—and other times philanthropy steps in to provide public goods—goods that are vital to a democratic society —when both the market and government fail to do so. Philanthropy is also essential to democracy because voluntary associations are essential to democracy. The freedom to form voluntary associations is a First Amendment freedom that, as Tocqueville noted, has multiple benefits for making democracy work, including the somewhat perverse benefit of providing a vehicle for citizens and civic leaders to voice their concerns and criticisms and to advocate for their factional interests. This is why we say philanthropy is essential to the free, open, and democratic so156 / Understanding Philanthropy ciety. Such a society allows its citizens—even encourages and empowers them—to form associations, trumpet their causes or their values, give their money to support what they believe in or to help whomever they want to help, and so on. Philanthropy helps to build the trust among citizens that is necessary for legitimate democratic states to survive. It serves this vital civic role in times of both national triumph and national crisis. Another way of summarizing what we argue here is to say that philanthropy is essential to the democratic task of public problem-solving. For instance, it plays a...