“Philanthropy is the love of humanity itself— thus, of all humanity.”
If you think United States foreign policy leaves something(s) to be desired, consider that you and every American can have a foreign policy of your own, in philanthropy. Consider what that would do for our reputation in the world, for world peace, for the spread of freedom and democracy, for women’s liberation, education of youth, and generally for global quality of life!
Because international philanthropy is a fast-growing field, all numbers about it must be considered approximate. Here are a few:
Nationwide,
Giving USA estimates that in 2005 about 2.5%, or about $6.39 billion, of private charitable giving went to “International Affairs.” With the globalization of the economy, American corporations have dramatically increased their giving abroad, to the point that this is the fastest-growing field in corporate philanthropy, said to have increased by over 20% in the last year alone. Foundations gave $3.4 billion to international development last year. (The federal government invested $20 billion in foreign aid for development.) So this is an immense field which philanthropy is entering.
Though we are just getting into it, international philanthropy is “hot.” Consider both the facts of, and the media interest in, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s massive initiatives against global diseases; Warren Buffett’s addition of $31 billion to their resources; Bill Clinton’s foundation successes in mobilizing government investments against HIV/AIDs in Africa; Nicholas Negroponte’s huge collaborative project to develop a $100 super-laptop computer to distribute by the millions to children in the developing world; the glamour and chic of “celebrity philanthropy” — Bono, “Brangelina,” et al.; recent tsunami and other disaster philanthropy; and on, and on. These are big, but everybody, including you, can get involved through existing charities.
This is our 10th anniversary; 2006 is also the fifth anniversary of 2001. In the week after Sept. 11, 2001, the Catalogue team met. We did not know then where the country or our audience would be by Thanksgiving. The avalanche of charitable giving was well underway, and local charities feared the worst for their budgets. We decided to re-position the Catalogue for relevancy to whatever might transpire — we rewrote articles, and reselected images, to respond to what had happened. That edition, of which we have only a handful of copies left, began with a page on “Philanthropy and Patriotism;” we addressed the issue of why Massachusetts donors should continue to support small charities here even while giving generously to catastrophe-related philanthropic needs; and the main article, about “American Philanthropy,” tried to place it in the new global context, concluding with a brief discussion of terrorism as the antithesis of philanthropy: misanthropy.
We believe that citizens’ philanthropy can and should be a primary instrument of American foreign policy. Only citizens can make it so. Spreading abroad the culture of “private initiatives for public good, focusing on quality of life” is intrinsically liberating, humane, and classically American. It will do us all good.
