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Patricia Illingworth looks at the ethics of philanthropy, arguing that philanthropic donors have human rights responsibilities. She makes an urgent case that philanthropy will be more ethical, and more effective, if it is reconfigured around human rights.
List of contents
- Introduction
- Plan of this Book
- Chapter 1 - Mismatch
- Giving in the US
- Need: Poverty and Inequality
- For One and For All
- Chapter 2 - Corporations Doing Good
- Greed is Good!
- The Rise of Compassionate Capitalism
- Chapter 3 - Giving Well: Philanthropy for Human Rights
- The Human Rights Responsibilities of Non-State Actors
- Social Expectations are Changing
- The Power of a Social License
- Chapter 4 - Blood Money
- Two Sides of the Same Coin
- To Accept, or Not to Accept
- Through A Human Rights Lens
- Chapter 5 - Doing Good to do Bad
- Variations on a Theme
- Jeffrey Epstein's Gift to MIT Media Lab
- Tackling Moral Self-Licensing
- A Place for Ethics Codes
- Chapter 6 - Fundraising with Dignity for All
- Poverty Porn and Donor Manipulation
- Protecting Human Rights
- The Good Place
- Chapter 7 - Philanthropy's Democracy Problem
- A Study in Contrast
- Protecting Democracy
- Influence: The Devil is in the Details
- Saving Civil Society
- For the Sake of Democracy
- Chapter 8 - The Fierce Urgency of Now
- Same Storm, Different Boats
- Philanthropy Stepping Up: Sort Of
- Giving For Human Rights
- If Not Now, Then When?
- Chapter 9 - Accelerating Human Rights
- Due Diligence for Human Rights
- Fundraisers: Practice What You Preach
- Nonprofits: When to Say No
- Donors: To Give or Not to Give
- Bibliography
- Notes by Chapter
About the author
Patricia Illingworth is an author, philosopher, and lawyer who works on some of the most urgent social, ethical, and human rights problems that face people and their communities. She has been a Fellow at Harvard Law School, Harvard Medical School and most recently, Senior Fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. She is Professor of Philosophy and Business at Northeastern University. She lives in Cambridge, MA. Her website is https://www.patriciaillingworth.com/
Summary
Dirty dollars, tainted donors and "poverty porn" have caused a social backlash against philanthropy. As more wealth is concentrated in the hands of a rising number of billionaires, it is clear that the same system that created their wealth also perpetuates deep inequality, social injustice, and human suffering.
Philanthropists often give with strings attached. They want to make the world a better place, but insist on their own vision of what constitutes a better world. Some donors also pay with tainted money, give to hate groups, or use their money to launder their reputations. Nonprofits that ignore the warning signs are often complicit in the fallout that comes with "dark dollars".
Using case studies, Patricia Illingworth shows how to address this problem. She argues that approaching philanthropy through a human rights lens can improve the quality of giving, resolve urgent quandaries, and mitigate the social injustice that philanthropy can perpetuate. A philosopher and lawyer, Illingworth makes the case that people and organizations have human rights responsibilities that should guide philanthropy and the nonprofit sector. When philanthropy begins to acknowledge, respect, and protect human rights it will regain its social license and help to make the world a better place.
Additional text
Giving Now is a must-read in the philanthropy and the nonprofit sector overall. Applying the human rights lens to philanthropy makes sense. The author demonstrates that it can be a hands-on tool for grantmakers and fundraisers. It also opens a new chapter in the debate on what guides philanthropy and how change can be driven forward.
