A modest proposal

The New Philanthropy

Human beings adapt very quickly to increased wealth. Research shows that even after the life-changing windfall of a lottery win, people are no happier one year later than they were before. The fact is that, once you have covered life’s essentials, your well-being remains static. Money really doesn’t buy you happiness.

This is because we instinctively compare ourselves to others, and there’s always someone always wealthier than you: once you’ve caught up with the Joneses, there’s the Smiths, the Changs and the Abramovichs. Someone always has a bigger boat.

In fact, as vast swathes of psychological research show, there is only one proven way to increase your happiness and that is giving. Giving makes you healthier both mentally and physically; givers live longer.

Smart wealthy people like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett know this, but they are also looking beyond the here and now. They are ensuring their legacy.

Since the dawn of the industrial revolution, there have always been wealthy philanthropists, but the nature of giving has changed recently. The current generation of givers are ensuring their place in history in very different ways to the likes of Ford, Getty, Rockefeller and Carnegie. We call this the New Philanthropy.

The New Philanthropy is not about ego, monuments or statues; it’s about discreet social welfare initiatives and social change.

It’s not about charity fund-raising gala dinners, it’s not renaming a local university, or a hospital wing, and it’s not because of tax or legal incentives; it’s about grand global life-saving initiatives.

New Philanthropists are just as likely to be born in India, Russia, China or Brazil as they are in the West. They use their innate ingenuity to create new ways of giving like microfinance, they exploit their tech-savvy to capitalise on the internet and their drive and business skills mean they often run their foundations themselves.

New Philanthropists are personally invested, they don’t just donate.

They are modern internationalists from all corners of the globe, they are open-minded entrepreneurs, they are trying to unlock the world’s potential and they’d like our help.

So don't be like the bank that (indirectly) pay one of our wages. Enable these people. Make the world a better place. 16:21:00 by Jack Rosevear and Will Phipps Delete

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