Culture of Philanthropy

In today’s society, we are blessed with various forms of philanthropy and different ways to achieve this philanthropic culture. When many people think of the term philanthropy, they immediately think of donating money to charities and other non-profit organizations. That is not necessarily the case because an individual can do philanthropy in a variety of different ways. For instance, they can do anything from taking part in or making an organization for the less fortunate. They can even participate in any form of community service that helps ‘people in that community’. Since philanthropy is all about “civic engagement, essentially social reform and community building.” Therefore, philanthropists need to connect with people and go beyond themselves into the world of donors in order to create that community of philanthropy. In a philanthropic culture, the importance of giving is instilled in the everyday organizational life at all levels and in all areas. This invites donors to support and embraced the healing mission of an organization. A philanthropic culture establishes an understanding of how community giving can strengthen and sustain organizations. However, the drive behind a philanthropic culture is to improve the wellbeing of humanity by preventing and solving social problems. In this paper, I’ll focus on how to establish a successful philanthropy and the importance of donors to sustain those philanthropy cultural aspects.

To begin, a philanthropy culture is often mistaken to be the same as a charity. Yet, the two are completely opposites. Charities usually concentrate on removing the suffering caused by social problems whereas the purpose and goal of philanthropy are to remove social problems. For instance, giving food ...

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...culture should like is the Make It Right foundation founded by Brad Pitt in 2007. The mission of this foundation is "to build safe, Cradle to Cradle inspired homes, buildings and communities for people in need. They firmly believe that everyone has the right to live in a high-quality, healthy home that enhances the natural environment.” This foundation partners with the donors who believe in healthy, affordable homes for communities in need. They have been able to build 150 homes for the Katrina victims in New Orleans and a 56-unit apartment building in Newark for disabled veterans. A philanthropy culture is vital in communities for the simple fact that it creates or builds collaboration at all levels.

Works Cited

Building a culture of philanthropy [Online forum comment]. Retrieved from

http://www.afpnet.org/Publications/eWireDetail.cfm?ItemNumber=4857