Tuesday, June 8, 2010

American Philanthropy

by Robert H Bremner
Chicago History of American Civilization
Editor: Daniel J Boorstin
Publisher: the University of Chicago Press, Chicago
1960

History of American Philanthropy

Colonial America
. John Winthrop's (Puritan leader) lay sermon "A Model of christian Charity" aboard ship Arbella to the people travelling from England to New England in 1630 - duty of neighbourliness and brotherly love.

. William Penn (1644-1718) - refuge for Quakers in Pennsylvania - no conflict between efforts to live a better in the world and endeavours to better it - they regarded the conduct of daily lfe as much a part of religious observance than formal worship - belief in separation between church and state, insistance on individual right of freedom of conscience - concept of stewardship ie man accountable to God for their wealth and the way they spent their lives and wealth

. Cotton Mather (1663-1728) - involved in witchcraft trials- influenced by German ideas - believed in doing good by helping out the poor and needy - also through spiritual and religious preaching - promoter of associations for such purposes - believed strongly that charity should not be misapplied so that it should be withheld from the undeserving- dissaproved of the abuses of private charity

. Benjamin Franklin (1706-90) - an enemy of mather but very much influenced by him - introduced secularism into doing-good - shifting emphasis from pious works and personal charity to efforts to improve general welfare - called for a repeal of the poor laws on the ground that public provision for the needy had a greater tendency to harm the poor- he believed not in making the poor easy in poverty, but in efforts to lead them out of poverty- he promoted voluntary associations (eg voluntary fire fighting company)as suitable for american conditions

. The Great Awakening - George Whitefield- around 1742- a mass movement - a wave of religious fervour that strenghtnedn individual religious independence and weakened the authority of the churches -
a. fostered humane attitudes and popularized philanthropy at all levels of society, especially among the poorer classes;
b. impact on humble men and women , many that belonged to no churche and beyond the reach of religious appeals - gave them the opportunity to indulge in feeling usually regarded above their proper station in life and participate in feelings of piety and benevolence
c. most important change - transformation of do-goodism from a predominatnly upper and middle class activity into a a broadly shared and popular avocation

. 30 years between Great Awakening and the American Revolution - joint public-private partnership in alleviating the poor - many disable soldiers and refugees from the frontiers - churches, friendly societies, public officias and new insitution such as Pennsylvania Hospital etc, jointly financed by taxation and private contributions - helped with the poor

American Revolution and post Independence 1776
.democracy - substantial equality - no classes or upper class - common set of moral values and economic principles - americans did not question the right of any man to get rich by personal effort but concerned with the uses to which wealth was put once it had been won - democracy sought to impose same middleclass standards of thrift, sobriety and responsibility on the rich
.thus,in the first half of the 19th century, the rich American had only 1 extravagance - ie to luxury of doing good - even bequething of large estates to children was frowned upon- there was criticism of the methods by which some of these commercial classes obtained their wealth- early americans voiced suspicion that philanthropy was used by the rich to atone for their method of acquiring wealth - "atonement theory of philanthropic motivation"
.by 1820 many American cities had a lot of benevolent organization (through the principle of voluntary associations)
. many addressed slavery issues, moral reform and gifts to the unfortunate. between 1800 and 1860, many colleges were founded because the federeal govt and the state govts barely supported the field of higher education. Mainly they were set up as theological seminaries and manyu churches organized small colleges which called themselves universitied. ergo Harvard (Unitarian since 1805)
.various gifts and bequests to the Federal Govt towards education were made - founding of Smithsonian Insitution and Lowell Institute were the result of such gifts
. also charity reformers - setting up of almshouses and poor farms to enable the poor to work and have food

Civil War 1861

.many civil war philanthropies on both sides
.Sanitary and Christian Commissions - brought more scientific approach to the charitable actions of the people
.fouding of the American Red Cross

Scientific philanthropy

. end of the 19th century
. period of acquisitiveness and self-seeking but synonymous with generosity and altruism
. more scientific approach - to discover facts about the specific causes of each applicant's need
.bringing about more efficiency and humanity to State welfare services
.depression o f1873-78 - nationwide natural disaster - private citizens, older charitable organization and public authorities set up soup kitchens, breadlines, free lodging houses and distributed coal an dfood to the poor in their homes. - there seemed to be an excess of mistaken charities and chaotic distribution of private charitable assistance - many municipal expenditures for poor relief went to impostors or grafting politicians-
. rise of charity reformers or professional philanthropists - demanding better organization of relief operations, more discrimination in the bestowal of assistance and more attention to the individual needs of the persons helped - unfortunately they demanded stoppage (instead of improvement) of public aid

Came the idea that private charity was to purged of sentimentality and organized into an effective force.- rise of charity organization socieites which acted as clearinghouses and bureaus of information (no aid or assistance given out)- but eventually they provided aid through penny savings banks, coal savings funds, provident wood yards, day nurseries for the children of working mothers


Wholesale philanthropy

Andrew Carnegie and "Wealth"

. he addressed the millionaire class in america - the self made man- he attributed their wealth to their fitness to survive and competitiveness - he attributed a concept of trusteeship to the millionaire class - but as an agent of the public, not a servant of God- trusteeship devolved on the man of wealth because he was fittest to exercise it and in the exercise of this trust he was accountable only to his own conscience and judgment of what is best for this community
.his advise was "To assist, but rarely or never to do all".
. to him it was a disgrace to die rich

Rockefeller, Sr

. a month before Carnegie published "Wealth", Rockefeller made his first gift of $600k to the founding of the University of Chicago.
.he had been a regular charitable contributor, not waiting to be rich before he started giving.
.as his business was in Standard Oil company, there were many detractors to his philanthropy, labelling the gifts and contributions as "tainted money".
. drowning in his wealth, 10 years after the founding of the University of Chicago, Rockerfeller advised "men of worth and position" to put thier surplus money in a trust.

Modern trusts and foundations

From 1901 onwards, Rockefeller, Carnegie etc established a series of foundations.
.Relieving the needy not the objective. they looked at the sources, through research. concentrated on education and medical research
.fear of big and poverful organizations after 1910
.Rockefeller and Carnegie found institutions capable of distributing private wealth with intelligence and vision, and put large-scale giving on a businesslike basis

Retail Philanthropy - business of benevolence
.from 1900s onwards
. many organizations and associations such as Boy Scouts, American Cancer Sociaety, Goodwill Industries cameinto being - diversity of interests
. but these were still haphazard not well organized
.WW1 - fund raising efforts - gave rise to professional fundraisers

. individual giving remained the mainstay of american philanthropy

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