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| Path: Main Street : Resources & Library : Research Articles : Feature Article |
Giving: How each of us can change the world
A review of Bill Clinton’s recent bookBy Roger Breault, MCS, CFRE
April 7, 2008This book is a recipe of hope and how to make your world a better place. As the last sentence states: “There’s a world out there that needs you, down the street or across the ocean. Give.” The premise of the book is this: “We all live in an inter-dependent world. Our survival depends upon an understanding that our common humanity is more important than our inevitable differences and that everyone matters.” Clinton vividly demonstrates how giving seems to make us happier and unites us. He admits that he learned much about philanthropy from Hillary.
Is this book essential reading for most fundraising professionals? Probably not, unless you’re fundraising for an agency that thinks globally or in very big terms. However, we cannot dismiss it as irrelevant either. One sentence in the middle of the book stands out and reveals the scale of philanthropic giving that pervades Clinton’s perspective: “We put together a relatively small fund of $14,000,000.” Hey, for most humble fundraisers, this is a gargantuan sum!
In Clinton’s circles, contributions of $1,000,000 are quite commonplace. His friends and acquaintances include Bill and Melinda Gates, Warren Buffet, and the rich and powerful from all corners of the earth. Bill and Melinda set aside over $35 billion for international relief, the eradication of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and domestic and foreign education. What’s more, Buffet, now the world's wealthiest man [according to Forbes magazine], realized the truth about what Bill Gates aptly stated: “It may be harder to give money away than it was to make it.” So instead of creating his own foundation, Buffet simply gave the bulk of his fortune, some $30 billion, to the Gates Foundation.
Clinton provides us with remarkable insight into the psychology of giving of wealthy people. What motivates them to give? Bill Gates states: “If you believe that every life has equal value, it’s revolting that some lives are seen as worth saving and others are not.” His foundation is built on eradicating these inequities. For Buffet: “My gift is nothing. I can have everything I need with less than one percent of my wealth. I was born in the right country at the right time. I am simply giving back surplus claims that have no value to me but can do a lot for others. I really admire the small donors who give up a movie or a restaurant meal to help needier people.”
One of the qualities of the book is that it not only describes the good work of major charities, it also includes a comprehensive index and resource guide - complete with website addresses for each charity - so readers can learn more about them. In all, there are 220. It also guides the reader to become better informed about charitable needs by directing him/her to selected books on many causes.
The book also cites many ways we can become donors: We can give money, time, ideas, skills, and things. We can also contribute through advocacy and helping to organize markets for the advancement of communities. Using concrete examples, Giving explains how more than 200 charities work, how they raise money, the nature of their impacts, and how we can support them. Each of us has a bias on what may be a philanthropic priority; Clinton leaves it up to us to pick and choose.
The book spells out five important philanthropic trends:
- There is a proliferation in the number of charities: “The United States has more than 1,000,000, twice as many as in 2000”. Many new ones are unique and focused.
- Providing “start-up” grants and loans to people in the developing world to establish small businesses is a growing trend. In our world, we often refer to “the gift that keeps on giving” as an endowment. In Clinton’s, it’s a third-world gift of farm animals, small business start-up funds, bicycles, seeds and fertilizer, because they empower people to sustain themselves year-after-year and even provide enough to enable families to put their kids through school.
- The growth of online giving and its particular usefulness in providing swift relief to disaster-struck zones of the world is another trend. It’s online giving, primarily, that funded Katrina and tsunami victims.
- Celebrities influences giving. Oprah’s “Big Give” and Magic Johnson’s neighbourhood programs are powerful. Superstar appeal works.
- Smart companies are increasing profits by aligning themselves with the interests of their clients. It’s an emergent movement. Home Depot, Wal-Mart and Virgin Airline’s efforts to “go green” serve to attract and retain customers, for example. They are ahead of governments in recognizing the need to support popular aspirations.
Why do we give? Whether rich or poor, Christian, Muslim, Jewish or Buddhist, we give because we think it will help people today or in the future, because we feel morally obligated, because someone we respect asked us, and/or because we find it more satisfying than spending money on material possessions. Why don’t we? According to Clinton, it’s simply the reverse of the above plus one other reason: we may not have faith that a charity can and will make a difference. Fortunately, as Clinton explains, most of us do give and this can only express our deep and abiding conviction that there is unlimited hope for us all!
Can we eventually eliminate the staggering poverty around the world, where more than a billion people live on less than $1.00 a day? Can we provide adequate health services and educational opportunities for the disenfranchised? Can we reduce global warming? Can we lick the problems of childhood obesity? There isn’t a problem on this planet that we cannot fix. All we have to do is give! This is the hope that Bill Clinton brings to us in his book: Giving: How each of us can change the world.
Roger Breault is president of Fund Raising Consultants of Alberta. He has more than twenty-five years of successful fundraising experience and has raised millions for charities in the arts, recreation, social services, historical preservation, health and education. Roger can be reached at rbreault@telus.net.
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