A Cry Against the Rich Getting Richer
You might find it hard to quibble with a $100 million donation to education, but you’re not the executive director of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy. David Rockefeller’s massive gift last week to fund study-abroad programs and the arts at Harvard University drew a pointed letter to the editor from Aaron Dorfman in yesterday’s New York Times:
His gift will have very little effect on the world; Harvard already has $35 billion in its endowment, and only a tiny percentage of its endowment income is used in pursuit of its mission. … I’m sure that Mr. Rockefeller is aware that there are thousands of small and mid-sized nonprofits where a gift of even $1 million would have a tremendous effect on their communities.
Dorfman is entirely correct, of course, but who wants to be told what to do with their own money? A better strategy is to reach out to the wealthy with concrete examples of smaller nonprofits for whom donations would make a transformative difference. Lecturing and educating, after all, aren’t the same thing. | 501(c)
Related Stories
POSTED IN: Education, Fundraising
1 opinion for A Cry Against the Rich Getting Richer
Jason Dick
May 31, 2008 at 3:20 pm
Great point. I think what I’m most excited about in todays world of philanthropy is the idea that it can be for anyone. I hope that there is more and more every day ordinary person philanthropy:
http://www.asmallchange.net/a-new-kind-of-philanthropy/
Have an opinion? Leave a comment: