UKC

I have recently read about several examples of philanthropy that set me thinking. Where are the present day versions of the same ethic?
I walked along Kirkcaldy seafront and viewed the plaque which points out that The Esplanade was constructed by The Corporation in the depression to provide employment for those who were out of work.
I know that MacCaigs Tower in Oban was a similar venture by a local Laird. I think of Cadbury, Carnegie, Salt, Terry & Fry as successful entrepreneurs who put their wealth to a social well-being.
But I can think of no 2015 contenders. Am I wrong (& cynical) or is the age of philanthropy past? Please encourage me.

In reply to keith-ratcliffe:

Capitalism and the Tories have destroyed it.

In reply to keith-ratcliffe:

Well the obvious name is Bill Gates, who has currently given 48% of his wealth away and (I think) pledged 99% of it to charity.

However you don't have to be rich to be a philanthropist. Sheffielders may have at some point seen Margaret around town, a woman with long grey-white hair who only ever wears white. She lives very frugally and gives most of her money away to good causes.

In reply to keith-ratcliffe:

No, not cynical at all. Philanthropy goes right against the grain of the present ruling ethos. Because it's giving something for nothing, giving something back to people that 'they have not earned' personally by the sweat of their own brows. A bit like giving free milk in schools to help children's teeth.

I think the last really big philanthropist was a Sainsbury (possibly now dead?). ?

In reply to Alyson:

Bill Gates is a spectacular example. Have we any such equivalent in Britain ?

In reply to Urgles:
I think again. Tonight is the culmination of Children in Need and all week on Radio 2 (Ok I reveal my demographic profile) I have heard pledges of money for the opportunity to take part in exclusive events and they have raised millions by their donations. Is the new philanthropy more of a WIFM (Whats in it for me) motivation?
Are the real donators the ones who offer the experience for free?

In reply to keith-ratcliffe:

Hang on. Philanthropy and charity are different things. The general public (partic. 'middle England') is still v charitable.

In reply to Urgles:


yeah, labour was and is always helping the poor. Blair, Brown, Darling, Miniband.... all you see in the papers are them donating things to the poor everyday, shaming those greedy tories.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

Elton John, Anita Roddick and JK Rowling all spring to mind. I have no idea how much they give away, but significant sums certainly.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:
Yes I see your point - so what is the difference?
A quick look up suggests that the two words are interchangeable.

In reply to Alyson:

Good examples - I am much encouraged.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

Tom Hunter (hunter foundation) is easily the most stand out, far more than anyone else, yet so little is heard of it, he simply gets on with life.

Hohn, Sainsbury family, Roddick, Rawling.... many many more.

Edit, I see Alyson thought of the same, how much, ten of millions each I think.

In reply to summo:
Yes -I forgot this person - Sir Tom Hunter -The White Knight of Children in Need - a very reticent philanthropist.

In reply to keith-ratcliffe:



I would say charity you simply ring up donate, give your money away. Philanthropy, you are more actively involved, much specific on where it goes, how it's spent, giving time and money. But, yes there can be a play on word.

Philanthropy is charitable as well.
Just being charitable, isn't always philanthropic.

In reply to Alyson:


Yeah, if I was a multi billionaire, who had more money than I knew what to do with it, I'm sure I could splash it around a bit to make myself appear to be a wonderful person!

In reply to keith-ratcliffe:

Have a bash at 'The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists', set in the years leading up to WW1. The basic premise, then as now, was that the working classes tended to subsidise the incomes and pursuits of the richest members of society; they were/are the real philanthropists.

Citizen Martin

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:


There was a Scottish couple- Lottery winners iirc, who bought and funded a boat to help save drowning refugees last year or 2013 long before there was this big surge of migration. I can't find a link, but I'm sure I didn't imagine it

In reply to Martin not maisie:

Good book - I never thought of decorating in the same way after reading it. Good call - thanks.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

Absolute and total misunderstanding. It was the "left" that pooh poohed the "big society" and food banks and thinks that only the State can address welfare issues. Philanthropy is at the core of Toryism.

In reply to Postmanpat:

Well to be fair, we didn't need so many food banks before the Coalition and now the present government drove more people into poverty.

In reply to Alyson:

Really? How do you know what the need for food banks before there were food banks? Did the NHS create more need for medical care in 1948?

In reply to Postmanpat:

An example (of a philanthropist) would help.

In reply to Lusk:

Well there are plenty of rich people who don't!

Also, the thing with the rich and famous examples is we can name them because they're rich and famous. We can name fewer modestly paid and unknown philanthropists because they're... well... unknown.

Ok, there's a great project in Sheffield called Twin Café www.twincafe.org which is a social enterprise set up by some university students, importing coffee beans from farmers in Estelí in Nicaragua.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:


http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/the-giving-list-britains-lead...

http://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/london-life/the-generosity-game-why-lon...

In reply to summo:

Capitalism is shit and all Tories are obviously cnuts.
Nuff said really.

In reply to Urgles:

I certainly don't agree with you. Capitalism generates the surplus wealth in an economy, and more besides. And not all Tories are cnuts.

In reply to Postmanpat:


Dave: "I've got this lovely idea. Tax breaks for the rich, take money off the poorest for having bedrooms they don't need in houses they have no choice about living in, then let them starve unless people with actual feelings do something about it."

Postmanpat: "Hurrah!"


Smacks of 'but are there no prisons? No poorhouses?' to me.

In reply to keith-ratcliffe:

Yes. You're wrong.

Branson
Ibrahim
Caudwell
Sainsbury
Hohn

All UK billionaires in the Giving Pledge (50-90%)

Plus lots of ordinary folks who give 10% of their income to charity but don't shout about it.

It's quite depressing that this kind of view (and the "tories killed it" bollox) persists

In reply to Alyson:


I thought we were discussing philanthropy ?

In reply to JJL:
Ok thanks for that - I knew of Sainsbury & Branson but not the others.

In reply to Urgles:


I could entertain that comment if you could provide the name of one country where an alternative has worked better for more a handful of years?

In reply to Alyson:


-The richest few percent still pay the vast majority of all tax revenue in the UK. A huge number pay no tax, which I disagree with, everyone should pay some tax(however little), that way everyone contributes to society and there is less of a stigma over givers and takers.
-If you are having housing provided for you (in any format), then you have to grasp that you can't have it all your own way. Somebody somewhere else in the UK, is working to fund it, many of whom have 2+ jobs, pay tax, get no benefits and are simply living to service their own mortgage for the next 25years plus.
-Starving? Exactly who, did they tell you about from a tweet via their Iphone6? Travel the world a little, people in the real 3rd world would dream of life like even the worst off UK resident. Why do you think thousands are fleeing Africa/ME to the UK.

In reply to Alyson:

There is a lovely line from Forbes, the magazine all about how rich people are, it states that JK Rowling has fallen out of their 'Rich List' through her determination to pay tax and give money away.

In reply to summo:


Everyone pays tax, not everyone pays income tax.


You are seriously out of touch with reality.

In reply to The New NickB:


Ok, I think everyone should pay a little income tax, the UK isn't going to have it's NHS, education etc it dreams of unless it increases tax take at all levels.


Maybe. But the current system isn't working. A few million live on benefits, a few more million pay zero income tax, a small minority pay the lions share. ALL state services are stretched to the max or beyond, plus the country makes an annual loss, owing over a trillion.
Something needs to change.

In reply to Urgles:

Worth remembering that we are one of the only countries that still commits to the UN agreed level of foreign aid whilst trying to save money at home

From the FT last week

" Britain spent 0.7 per cent of its national income on foreign aid. This met an old UN target that all but a few countries honour in the breach. In the same year the UK spent its customary 2 per cent on defence, continuing to match a Nato aspiration that most members of the alliance do not pretend to take seriously. "

In reply to keith-ratcliffe:

Philanthropy : a process whereby the super rich can not only decide how much tax they would like to pay but also when they would like to pay it and what it should be spent on. Bypasses that whole democracy nonsense.

In reply to Hyphin:


or where the rich who've made their own money, recognise the inefficiency of the government and give money direct to those who need it? Would you rather they just kept all their money?

In reply to keith-ratcliffe:

Gates,
CIFF,
Ford
Packard
Moore (Intel)
Hewlett
Oak
McKnight
Sainsbury
Bloomberg
Omidyar (skype)

Lots of current examples, doing a lot of good with their money.

In reply to Urgles:


That is very naive, capitalism is the seed of philanthropy.

In reply to keith-ratcliffe:

I'm busy looking for some modern day philanthropists who aren't rich for you. Here's one (text courtesy of amightygirl.com)

"After learning about the many girls in developing countries who never have an opportunity to go to school, 12-year-old Mary Grace Henry of Harrison, New York decided that she would help at least one girl get an education. She asked for a sewing machine for her birthday so she could start making headbands to sell to pay for a girl's school fees. Six years later, Mary Grace has built a successful hair accessories business and she donates 100% of its profits toward educational opportunities for girls -- her 16,000 creations have now funded the education of 66 girls living in extreme poverty.

As a young teen, Mary Grace started out by teaching herself how to make reversible headbands with a plan to sell them at her school's bookstore. She soon raised enough to send one girl to school and, encouraged by the enthusiastic response, set out to help others. She named her social enterprise Reverse The Course because, as she explains, “Educating a girl can reverse the course of her life, change the course of a community... and a country."

Through the sale of thousands of her handmade hair accessories, Mary Grace has given 66 girls in Kenya, Uganda, Paraguay and Haiti the gift of an education, paying for the equivalent of 154 years of school fees, as well as their textbooks and uniforms. Many of the girls are also enrolled in boarding schools which significantly increases their academic success by decreasing the risk that they will be forced to marry early and leave school. Her project has also provided girls in Uganda with sewing supplies to help them start their own entrepreneurial ventures.

Now a freshman at the University of Notre Dame, Mary Grace is deeply aware of the challenges faced by many of the girls she supports: "In many countries throughout the world, girls are viewed as having not just lesser value than boys, but often devastatingly little or no value.” But, she also knows firsthand the transformative impact of education -- last year, Mary Grace spent two weeks in sub-Saharan African documenting these impacts for a new documentary, "Tumaini," that she says will show how many of the girls are now "paving their own paths to help others." For her years of dedicated service, Mary Grace was recently honored with a World of Children Award; the two-year $35,000 grant she received will be used to support her work in Africa.

There are many ways to help support Mary Grace's efforts from purchasing a headband to making a donation; learn more at vimeo.com/109474410 "

In reply to keith-ratcliffe:

Do Google Maps and Google Earth count as philanthropic?

In reply to nufkin:
OK try this - Google Maps & Earth are free to use but they are a 'loss leader' element to Google's commercial goal to sell its data to companies who want to use it for marketting purposes. Is that philanthropic or good business?