Blessed to Give
WOOSTER, MARTIN MORSE
Blessed to Give The art of philanthropy, as written in literature. BY MARTIN MORSE WOOSTER Giving Well, Doing Good Readings for Thoughtful Philanthropists Edited by Amy A. Kass Indiana, 490...
...Gilbert made this point better in Princess Ida: I’m a genuine philanthropist—all other kinds are sham...
...Still another problem foundations face is how much they should give...
...One of the endless debates in philanthropy is whether or not foundations should increase their grantmaking more than the current annual mandate of 5 percent of endowment...
...Each little fault of temper and each social defect In my erring fellow-creatures, I endeavor to correct . . . But although I make myself as pleasant as I can, Yet everybody says I’m such a disagreeable man And I don’t know why...
...Was his action the right thing to do...
...Martin Morse Wooster, senior fellow at the Capital Research Center, is the author, most recently, of The Great Philanthropists and the Problem of ‘Donor Intent...
...Program offi cers also have to worry about when to stop a grant...
...Here a close study of Henri Barbusse’s “The Eleventh” (1918) might be in order...
...Kass teaches at the University of Chicago and is a fellow at the Hudson Institute (full disclosure: Hudson published my book, Great Philanthropic Mistakes...
...we ought not to gain money at the expense of life, nor (which is in effect the same thing) at the expense of our health...
...What could the hospital do to make its charity more humane...
...Forster...
...For all that is laid out in this manner [of giving] is really given to God...
...There’s even science fi ction, Ursula K. LeGuin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas...
...How can a philanthropist ensure that his wealth won’t lead to perpetual dependency...
...What the excerpts show is that nearly every problem philanthropists face today is age-old...
...Employees of nonprofi ts—like those in such comparable service professions as social work, nursing, or teaching—are always trying to hone the tinsel tools of social science to make what they do seem professional, measurable, scientifi c. One of the debates over philanthropic professionalism is whether having a master’s degree in nonprofi t management is a good idea...
...but mostly it is a literary anthology of stories, essays, and plays...
...God, Wesley taught, “placed you here not as a proprietor, but as a steward...
...but W.S...
...The work of a program offi cer, coolly sifting the worthy from the unworthy, may seem, to the outsider, a little prissy...
...Nearly every excerpt raises deep and timeless questions, and donors who fi nish Amy Kass’s collection will gain a deeper understanding of their calling— and, perhaps, discover new writers to enjoy...
...Discuss...
...Finally, we should “give all you can...
...Kass’s key insight is that today’s philanthropists have a lot to learn from the great writers of the past...
...BY MARTIN MORSE WOOSTER Giving Well, Doing Good Readings for Thoughtful Philanthropists Edited by Amy A. Kass Indiana, 490 pp., $50 One of the perennial discussions among philanthropists is whether philanthropy is an art or a science...
...Second, said Wesley, “save all you can” while not spending “merely to gratify the desire of the fl esh, the desire of the eye, or the pride of life...
...another is how and whether grants should be evaluated— and whether or not the evaluations are useful...
...Barbusse posits a “palacehospital” that every month admits 10 nameless beggars, who spend a month living like kings, only to be evicted at the end of the month and replaced by 10 other beggars...
...They believe that the art of giving money away—particularly to small and struggling groups that can’t afford professional grant writers—can’t be taught from a textbook...
...The countervailing view is that philanthropy is an art, and efforts to make it seem “scientifi c” waste time and money...
...The protagonist ultimately quits the hospital because he cannot close the door to worthy recipients of aid...
...Yet philanthropists ought to consider the timeless advice of John Wesley, founder of Methodism, in a sermon included here: Christians should “gain all you can . . . but this it is certain we ought not to do...
...Her goal is that the excerpts will “illuminate fundamental questions about the idea and practice of philanthropy, questions of great importance to philanthropy’s future...
...Kass is especially diligent at unearthing obscure writers whose work deserves more exposure: The writing of Gordon Weaver, whose 1972 story “Haskell Hooked on the Northern Cheyenne” is a hilarious critique of strident fund-raising letters, particularly impressed me...
...And those excerpts are wideranging: Authors include Plato, Lao Tzu, Chekhov, Tolstoy, and E.M...
...The champions of philanthropyas-art argue that while you can measure how many poor people take a job-training class, you can’t calculate how many of these students decide to adopt good work habits, or determine that working is a better use of time than sloth...
...Both the artists and the scientists could learn a great deal from Amy A. Kass’s fi ne anthology...
...For decades this “payout debate” has been one which philanthropoids fi nd exciting but which induces catatonia in most people...
...Giving Well, Doing Good includes many papers, commissioned for the book, from eminent scholars...
Vol. 13 • May 2008 • No. 35
