Philanthropy and Privilege

At the time of year when we are all looking to make our year-end, tax-deductible gifts, it is important to reflect on our giving and its implications. As Programs Manager at a small foundation that touts itself as promoting “Change, not Charity” (as well as being a white, cisgender female) there is an even bigger reason for me to personally examine this issue. This time of year reminds me to think critically about the ways that philanthropy can help, but also perpetuate the systems of inequality that it seeks to alleviate. We frequently ask grantees to jump through several hoops to prove that they work for social change, but what is the work that we ask of donors? What is their (ours, my) personal responsibility in this giving process?

In a 2012 interview, Jeffrey Solomon, President of the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies, called foundations "the passing lane of society," given their freedom to try new ideas without rigorous public scrutiny. Examples range from funding that is ineffective or inefficient in ending social injustice to funding that downright perpetuates the system as it is (e.g. large foundations funding police departments to develop predictive crime analytics systems). Philanthropy, whether it is a small personal donation or a large foundation grant, requires serious personal self-reflection on history and identity on the part of the donor if it going to be used to truly end systemic and historic inequalities. This personal or organizational self-reflective piece on the donor’s part is often absent at all levels of philanthropy.

And make no mistake, it is intentionally absent…Much of philanthropy is centered on making donors feel good or positive about a contribution that is given or bestowed out of the goodness of our hearts. It is the system that allows my white, Midwestern grandparents to feel good about sending $50 a year to an orphanage in the Philippines while consistently referring to the Indian family in their apartment building as “savages”. What this alleviation of guilt often does is to allow the philanthropic system to continue to perpetuate a lack of historical analysis about how certain groups of people ended up with concentrated wealth and power and at whose expense it was taken. There is a myth perpetuated that wealthy and middle income folks (largely white in the United States) have earned 100% of our wealth due to our own efforts and any money that we choose to “give” away is coming directly from our good or benevolent nature. This negates the reality of the historical context and how our country’s economy was structured intentionally to benefit wealthy, white folks, (men in particular) by profiting off of land and labor of people of color (Indigenous Peoples/Native Americans, African slave trade, Texas annexation, etc.)

This is why it is so essential for our giving to be rooted in a sense of justice, and even reparations. In “The Case for Reparations,” Ta-Nehisi Coates states that “Until we reckon with our compounding moral debts, America will never be whole.” The money that we claim to “give” away out of a sense of generosity is inevitably connected to that history. Having privilege and wealth alone does not make you at fault for all systemic inequality. It does, however, require that we reflect on our identity and challenge those systems of oppression. Our giving should be rooted in a redistribution of wealth. If we aren’t interrogating our giving (both our intentions behind giving as well as where our money is directed) we can be part of the system that continues to perpetuate inequalities. Being mindful about our privilege and self-education/reflection should be as much a part of the philanthropy process as the actual giving of money itself.

All of this said philanthropy can be an incredibly powerful and transformational tool for undoing these systems, both for the donor and the recipient. “Benefitting” from the system of white supremacy, in however that looks, actually separates us from our collective humanity and collective liberation. To actively work against that system by redistributing wealth in an effective way that also builds relationships and accountability reconnects us with the humanity that white supremacy and capitalism denies us. If we are to truly “do good” with our giving, we must do right.

Sydney Olberg is the Programs Manager at Three Rivers Community Foundation

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