Why I Don’t Trust Philanthropists
While the funding of a nonprofit sector is critically important, I’ve recently become very skeptical of the role of philanthropy within it in a way that makes me fear for who or what nonprofits claim to serve.
Promoting Welfare or Self-Promotion?
Oxford Languages defines philanthropy as “the desire to promote the welfare of others, expressed especially by the generous donation of money to good causes.” In simple terms, philanthropists are wealthy individuals or groups of individuals who donate to nonprofit organizations.
Without philanthropic donations, many nonprofits wouldn’t be able to keep the lights on, pay their staff, or carry out their mission. However, sometimes, as I’ve witnessed, philanthropists, specifically individual donors, can also have nonprofit organizations “do their bidding” by using donations as a way to steer organizational missions toward their personal interests.
Why I’ve Become a Skeptic
I recently heard of a nonprofit organization that had a very strongly defined mission as to why it existed in the first place. Having received some private, foundational, and provincial funding, it had a noble cause and one that in my mind was very needed within society.
But then an individual philanthropist came in with a specific direction of where they wanted to see the funding utilized.
Soon, the organization’s work became about pleasing the donor rather than the cause. From what I heard, the organization's true and original mission, which was based on defined and demonstrated community needs, was replaced by the philanthropist’s personal mission and interests.
It certainly also can’t be neglected to recognize that a philanthropist benefits quite a bit by having a substantial tax break when they donate to a cause.
Why Others are Skeptics of Nonprofit Organizations
When I hear about situations like this, it makes me become skeptical of the nonprofit sector, the one sector I see as the most important sector on the planet. It leads me to question the validity of the work of nonprofit organizations, whether nonprofit organizations work to help people or instead work to please donors.
It leads me to wonder if people make generous donations because of a genuine care for the cause, or just to boost their profile and serve their interests while gaining a tax cut.
It also makes me realize why so many others, too, are skeptical of the nonprofit sector: a sector that is often criticized for the way it uses its financial resources.
The one thing stands: funding is needed. The nonprofit sector does need the financial injections that sometimes only rich philanthropists can provide. But how can a balance be maintained between personal philanthropic interests and defined and expressed community needs? I wish I had the answer.
United Way: Collectively Deciding on Funding Distribution
One thing I’ve seen “work” in my own nonprofit experience is seeing philanthropists donate to national funding organizations such as the United Way which engages diverse groups of volunteers and community leaders to collectively decide and distribute funding to other community organizations with defined community needs.
I had the valuable experience of serving on the Poverty Impact Council within the United Way of London & Middlesex for 5+ years in the early-mid 2010s. Every year, it was our role as community leaders with diverse perspectives and experiences to review requests for funding from United Way’s multi-million dollar fundraising campaigns. The Impact Council’s role was to collectively learn about community needs, organizational intentions, other funding sources, and proposed outcomes with the multiple requests for funding from the United Way’s multi-million dollar fundraising campaigns.
We would visit the organizations, ask the questions that needed to be asked and would join together for multi-hour meetings to decide how funding should be distributed to create the largest impact within poverty initiatives in London. I always felt confident about this approach because we were able to use the money donated by philanthropists, but ethically and intentionally distribute it on their behalf based on defined community needs and proposed solutions and initiatives.
Luckily, there are dozens of similar and credible organizations that exist with a similar model to the United Way, often in the form of foundations or granting agencies, or other structures. It’s important that donors - however big or small - look into the history and work of the funding agencies to see whose interests they truly serve.
Mutual Aid: A Citizen-to-Citizen Approach
Mutual Aid is not a recent concept and has been practiced for centuries between community members who have a common goal of watching out for one another’s well-being.
Mutual Aid is not a charity; these are organizations that are run by volunteers who take in requests from individuals and empower those who can donate to send money directly to the person in need of funding. Mutual Aid also takes the form of acts of service.
The unique thing about Mutual Aid is that when someone donates, nothing is expected in return. The donor will not receive a tax receipt for their contribution, nor will they be publicly recognized. It is simply a human-to-human transaction of someone expressing a need, and someone else being able to fulfill that need.
Wealthy individuals who truly want to “promote the welfare of others” for nothing but the intention of being of service to their fellow humans may consider looking into national, provincial, or local mutual aid organizations.
Time to Take Off the Rose-Coloured Glasses
While I do think there are very viable ways of giving to causes as demonstrated in the above examples, I don’t think I’ll ever lose my skepticism about the motives of philanthropists, nor should the nonprofit sector or other donors.
When engaging with and donating to nonprofits, it’s important to research who their funders are and reflect on how their presence as donors may impact the organization, and the community and causes they’re ultimately serving.
Sadly, the more I learn, the more I realize I have worn rose-coloured glasses, believing that people just genuinely want to help other people. Unfortunately, self-interest is often disguised as “helping”, which is actually more harmful to those served by nonprofits.
Yet, I refuse to give up on believing and knowing that there are good donors, Executive Directors, board members, staff, volunteers, and community members within the nonprofit sector and mutual aid movement whose hearts and efforts truly come from a genuine place and a desire to take care of one another and create better systems and societies.
I just know now I that have to be a bit more careful and not always take everything at face value.
Anne-Marie E. Fischer, BA (Hons), M.Ed., blends her passion for the written word with her vocation to create a better world through effective communications, education, and Community Based Research (CBR).
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