Philanthropy: Impact and Role in Society

This assignment delves into the significance of philanthropy in modern society. It examines how philanthropy contributes to filling market failures, complements private sector initiatives, and generates social benefits. The analysis also highlights the inherent risks philanthropists undertake and the potential for scaling innovative solutions to societal challenges. Moreover, it emphasizes the human drive behind philanthropy and its role in fostering social well-being.

Running head: PHILANTHROPY AND CIVIL SOCIETY
Philanthropy and Civil Society
Name of Student:
Name of University:
Author’s Note:

1PHILANTHROPY AND CIVIL SOCIETY
Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................2
Concept of Philanthropy:.................................................................................................................2
Origin of Philanthropy:....................................................................................................................2
Civil Society:...................................................................................................................................3
Issues related to Philanthropy:.........................................................................................................4
Observations on Philanthropy:........................................................................................................5
Facing the philanthropic world:.......................................................................................................7
Approaches and types of Philanthropy:...........................................................................................7
Conclusion:....................................................................................................................................10
References:....................................................................................................................................12

2PHILANTHROPY AND CIVIL SOCIETY
Introduction:
Philanthropy is the decision to promote human welfare which can be expresses especially
by the generosity in terms of monetary donations for good causes. Philanthropy is a crucial
aspect of a democratic society and is a tad different from charity and it focuses on the removal of
social problems. It also supports projects as well as tries from which all segments of the society
as well as the people benefit. This might include libraries, museums as well as scientific
research. It also backs efforts which might be too controversial or unpopular in order to get total
support from the government and common people alike.
Concept of Philanthropy:
The concept of philanthropy is to improve the well-being of humankind by the prevention
as well as solving of social problems. Charity is not the same as philanthropy because it focuses
on the eliminating the social problems whereas philanthropy focuses on the elimination of
suffering caused by the social problems. Going at the root of any problem and helping in its
eradication altogether is basically the concept of philanthropy. Charity might help a person or
group of persons temporarily but philanthropy helps in the removal of the problem altogether.
Origin of Philanthropy:
The origin of philanthropy is several thousand years old. Ancient people also practiced
philanthropy for a variety of reasons. It has a private sector engagement with the civil society.
The notion of civil society is quite ancient. Since ancient times human societies required
cooperative behaviour for the purpose of survival and it can be easily stated that the primitive
patterns of social harmonisation and institutional methods shaped and will continue to shape the

3PHILANTHROPY AND CIVIL SOCIETY
world at present. There has been a great amount of interest in the civil society. There have been
several debates related to the new interests related to the civil society. The universal
acknowledgement of the rise of the civil society has been significant. Every individual can be
thought of as a member of civil society (Adam 2009). Every individual can be considered to be
linked to the civil society and institutions in the public space. The degree of the participation in
private and public life is very closely related to the characteristic actions of persons belonging to
the civil society.
Civil Society:
The term civil society is supposed to mean several things in the modern time period. The
words of non-profit organisations as well as the philanthropy, a setup of international NGOs, the
social relations involving mutual respect and several others come under it. All these ideas are
responsible for reflecting the myriad interests as also the identities present in the contemporary
society. It also includes the chore of working in order to better the worsened conditions in the
world. In a particular society where there are increasing instances of intolerance, the problems
related to the freedom of doing something and that of belief, an inability to pursue the common
goods, the chance of the bettering of the civil society is responsible for creating a ray of hope in
the otherwise disheartening scenario. The models of a positive civil society suggest a ray of hope
in an otherwise morose situation.
Civil society and its difficult framework of freedom, rights, common commitments and
also the processes for the peaceful solving of problems is the reason for it being promising in the
future situation. There is an enabling framework for the purpose of democracy and there is also
an inherent tension a flimsy amount of balance between the public and private interests.

4PHILANTHROPY AND CIVIL SOCIETY
Maintenance of this balance is imperative to the finding of solutions for the major challenges in
the modern democracies which require public resolution and also challenges such that
environmental degradation, the important educational needs, ethnic needs, ethnic as well as
religious strife and the difficulties and lowered quality of public decision making. These are
considered as issues of the commons, the resolution of it determines the situation that people will
encounter in future.
Issues related to Philanthropy:
There are certain issues which are related to the well-being and ultimate survival of the
community and these are related to the individual decision making in the significant situations
that might arise in any segment. The well-being and the ultimate survival of the community is
extremely critical. Hence the role of philanthropy is extremely crucial for the proper
management and benefit of the society. The creation and the sustainment of the institution of the
frameworks and the proper norms of the society need to be met successfully.
Philanthropy is considered to be the central value of the civil society. The concept is
strongly concerned with the tradition of the emphasizing of the personal action for the common
good. Philanthropy is an indispensible vehicle for the realising of this intention towards the
common good of the civil society. The concept of the free communication is extremely important
for the development of the society and the betterment of the people (Stuckler, Basu and McKee
2011).
Tolerance is also an extremely important aspect of the civil society. The essential as well
as the defining value of the civil society is considered to be the determinant for the proper
acceptance of philanthropy.

5PHILANTHROPY AND CIVIL SOCIETY
Observations on Philanthropy:
The most significant observation is the study is the rise of the concept of giving which
involves small and individualistic giving in specifically emerging market economies. The study
states that the emerging market economies also are significant in the concept of giving and being
philanthropic by nature. The development of philanthropy is often neglected and often it has
been found that it has not been properly recorded in certain situations. Nevertheless its
contribution towards the overall welfare of the people is significant. The concept of philanthropy
is neglected in situations where the concept of giving is given the name of welfare service. The
concept of philanthropy was progressive and this meaning of was not understood clearly in
certain scenarios. There are reasons that specific issues receive more amount of philanthropic
support. This is because there are certain visible natures of poverty as well as inequality which is
responsible for the philanthropists to act immediately and provide immediate relief.
In certain situations there is the need for philanthropy to be relevant. In order to be at par
with the times, philanthropy has to break from the moulds of normalcy in order to be relevant.
There is a significant endowment for the greater amount of flexibility in the foundational
frameworks. The relationship with the corporations and the formation of the profit as well as
non- profit organisations is crucial as they change the nature of the civil society. In this
connection there needs to be a relation of the civil society with the businesses and the
development of the trust is also crucial in order to work together (Banks and Hulme 2012). The
alignment of the profit along with the social values is not a very new phenomenon in the
different parts of the World. Since the non-profit organisations are interested mainly in the
improvement of the human welfare as well as the realisation of the human rights the most
important focus of the organisations of the civil society is on those corporations which show a

6PHILANTHROPY AND CIVIL SOCIETY
real and noteworthy commitment to a social purpose (Reckhow and Snyder 2014). In this
particular situation in Case the civil society has to maintain and in fact increase its relevance,
there needs to be a certain amount of courage and strength in order to shape the global values. It
also needs to be explored how a profit motive can be better aligned with the values as well as
rights based approaches. Global value chains needs to be shaped, the influence of the flows of
the financial capital needs to be understood, there also needs to be a better aligned system of the
actual motives of the organisations along with the actual performances. By the active
engagement and the help of the selected corporations to evolve the influence of the very fabric, a
new nature of global capitalism has come about.
According to studies it has been seen that, several enterprises have the desire and the
drive for mission driven impact and hence an ultimate benefit for the organisation. The role of
the private sector is linked with the global development. There are several corporations that think
of ways and methods in order to avoid the harm which is caused by the unfettered desire for the
accumulation of profit. There are cases when the leaders of the organisations as well as their
employees are desirable of contributing to social good by the promotion of positive human
development. There have been instances in which the increased amount of the private sector
development in the tracking leads to the increased development to grow. It can undoubtedly be
stated that the future will include certain approaches to the human welfare which leverage the
public, private as well as the non-profit sectors.
There has been an undeniable increase in the prevalence of the private sector. All the aid
flows have been so modest that it is extremely unreasonable to expect them to have economy
wide impact in connection to the volume of the private resources which flow across borders or
which are available within a country for the development of the country. Certain segments or

7PHILANTHROPY AND CIVIL SOCIETY
communities are focussed on certain aspects which might include the issue of homelessness,
conservation as also the disabilities of different communities. It corresponds to the corporate
social responsibility that depends on the sustainable value chains as well as the business models
(Galaskiewicz, 2016).
Facing the philanthropic world:
The most important problem of facing the philanthropic world over the next decade is
actually an illumination of the self understanding as a social as well as a cultural factor. It is an
important question of whether the philanthropic institutions are part of the private government
sector being therefore an element in the vital civil society or just a part of the governmental
institutional sector. It is usually considered that the civil society is a place for great freedom,
impulsiveness as well as creativity (Schuyt, Smit and Bekkers 2013). This might also be due to
the reason that the empowerment of the ordinary people has no predescribed ends and can make
the civil society messy, unpredictable and even uncontrollable. It can also become subversive to
a dangerous extent. This is a characteristic which few foundations are quite brave enough to
support.
Approaches and types of Philanthropy:
There have been distinct approaches to philanthropy and it is necessary to do so in order
to avoid the debates which are only a function of the lack of awareness of different prevalent
methods. One type of philanthropy is the concept of charitable giving. This involves the
accruement of beneficiaries. A giver of charitable nature is concerned majorly with the value of
the programmatic execution which is relative to the size of the grant size and cares very little
related to the non-profit organisation.

8PHILANTHROPY AND CIVIL SOCIETY
Another type is that of philanthropic investment, which seeks to invest resources into non
profit enterprises for increasing their ability to deliver execution of specific programs. This
investor is mainly focussed on the longer increase in the improvement of the execution in
connection to the grant size.
Strategic philanthropy is another aspect for the buying of the non profit goods and
services connected to the theory of change which are defined by the strategic philanthropist. The
execution by the grantees advances the solution which according to them is the most likely to
solve problems which they seek to address.
Social entrepreneurism seeks to execute those programs directly which are linked to a
theory of change. Other organisations approach engage with the help of these organisations.
They are mainly concerned with the net social impact of their programs.
Corporate philanthropy is when the setting up of standalone charitable foundations are an
effective vehicle. Companies are becoming more and more aware of their responsibilities to the
communities in which they operate. Major amount of engagement is being seen in corporate
social responsibility programmes (Nickel and Eikenberry 2009).
There is another concept of giving circles which is powerful and simple at the same time.
It happens when individuals come together and pool their funds, decide together where to give
the money and also to learn about the community and also understand properly about the concept
of philanthropy. The opportunity in order to shape a group for meeting the specific requirements
of a community and the particular interests and also the capabilities of the donors remain the
most appealing characteristics of a giving circle.

9PHILANTHROPY AND CIVIL SOCIETY
The grant making philosophy is adopted by the philanthropic organisations which have
grant rounds where proposals are submitted for funding for the companies. On the other hand,
the concept of social finance involves the lending of money with the main purpose of achieving
positive social change. The money is lent if only it is felt that the money will achieve a positive
social impact. On such occasions, the money is paid back with rates of interest which are
affordable.
Community foundations are non profit organisations which mobilize and invest technical
and financial resources in a particular geographical area. The goals are to improve the quality of
life of a population and to assist in the community development. Venture philanthropy on the
other hand addresses the growing need for the support as well as flexible funding. It came from
the application of the techniques which are most commonly associated with the venture capital to
the task of philanthropy (Daly 2012).
There is also the prevalence of partnership led philanthropy for the maximisation of the
impact by the utilisation of expertise in the cooperation with other philanthropic organisations
and also in the achievement of the aims. Several other ideas need support as well.
There is no doubt regarding the role of philanthropy in the modern societies. There are
certain inherent responsibilities incumbent upon the sate with regard to its citizens. It is
understood that when the resources are limited, the gaps can be filled by the individuals who
have the means to do so. Thus all the major philanthropic institutions have done a lot to stop the
spread of diseases, improvement of education, creation of infrastructures as well as the
sustainability of the cultural life of communities all around the world (Koch 2012).

10PHILANTHROPY AND CIVIL SOCIETY
In case of several people, the drive to support the charitable endeavours is the recognition
of the fact that every individual has the potential and can be realised only under the right
circumstances. This is because the large foundations have several problems in case of many
organisations. It can safely be said that philanthropy is not just the donation of money but is
dedicated to providing relief to several number of people in need of several requirements
(Sievers 2010).
The successful philanthropy is quite the same as successful business. It also requires to
search for a field in which a person can make the most impact and ensure that the service has the
most amount of effect. Just like businesses the charitable foundations need to be aware of
excessive wastage of funds as well as inefficiencies in the operations. This is because only
profits are not at stake.
Conclusion:
Philanthropy can fill the gaps which are created by the market failures. The private sector
is an effective mechanism for the allocation of the resources in the society and also for the
production of better products, goods and services. Philanthropy is also seen as a good way to
produce social benefit. There are certain amount of risks which can only be taken by
philanthropists and nobody else (Sulek 2010). A benefit of sorts in case of philanthropy is that it
is not risk contained in any way. It also helps in the scaling of good ideas. Innovative solutions
can be identified to challenging problems, for their testing out, the development of their evidence
of efficacy and the sharing of the learning procedures which help in the demonstration of the
activities. Philanthropy allows us to connect and share values which are responsible for drawing

11PHILANTHROPY AND CIVIL SOCIETY
people to this concept. There is an amount of human satisfaction in giving and that cannot be
forgotten.
Philanthropy arises out of the human impulse to be of service and help in order to be of
service to others. The role of philanthropy in modern society is well captured by the concept of
the actual venture of capital. There are always newer ways to contribute towards the society.
Thus philanthropy needs to be pursued for the proper welfare of society and people in utmost
need of it.

12PHILANTHROPY AND CIVIL SOCIETY
References:
Adam, T., 2009. Buying respectability: Philanthropy and urban society in transnational
perspective, 1840s to 1930s. Indiana University Press.
Banks, N. and Hulme, D., 2012. The role of NGOs and civil society in development and poverty
reduction.
Daly, S., 2012. Philanthropy as an essentially contested concept. VOLUNTAS: International
Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 23(3), pp.535-557.
Galaskiewicz, J., 2016. Social organization of an urban grants economy: A study of business
philanthropy and nonprofit organizations. Elsevier.
Koch, F., 2012. The new corporate philanthropy: How society and business can profit. Springer
Science & Business Media.
Nickel, P.M. and Eikenberry, A.M., 2009. A critique of the discourse of marketized
philanthropy. American Behavioral Scientist, 52(7), pp.974-989.
Reckhow, S. and Snyder, J.W., 2014. The expanding role of philanthropy in education
politics. Educational Researcher, 43(4), pp.186-195.
Schuyt, T., Smit, J.H. and Bekkers, R., 2013. Constructing a philanthropy-scale: Social
responsibility and philanthropy.
Sievers, B.R., 2010. Civil society, philanthropy, and the fate of the commons. UPNE.

13PHILANTHROPY AND CIVIL SOCIETY
Stuckler, D., Basu, S. and McKee, M., 2011. Global health philanthropy and institutional
relationships: how should conflicts of interest be addressed?. PLoS Medicine, 8(4), p.e1001020.
Sulek, M., 2010. On the modern meaning of philanthropy. Nonprofit and voluntary sector
quarterly, 39(2), pp.193-212.