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Integration: Back to the Future: 21st Century Charity
by Dr. Charles Self
The dawn of a new millennium confronts charitably-minded business leaders with many unprecedented challenges and opportunities. We see an exploding population and exploitative governments. The gap between rich and poor worldwide continues to grow. Even among the 6% of the world’s population who control 50% of the wealth, a sense of foreboding is growing. Housing costs are rising. Job markets are reinventing themselves continually. Governments are straining to deliver services while streamlining outdated structures.
The "business of charity" is undergoing rapid changes. Wellheeled donors are wined and dined by organizations desperate for a share of the new Information Age wealth. The new giving classes created in the last two decades are a discriminating and pragmatic lot anxious to see their charitable "investments" pay "dividends." While soliciting great moneys, charities find it harder to recruit volunteers or paid-staff willing to sacrifice time and money for the cause.
The global economic system is connecting people from radically different cultures. This can be salutary or troubling. There are unique opportunities to forge new partnerships to solve old problems. The challenge is to affirm a set of principles that will guide the global community toward a cooperative and non-coercive future.
This article presents a set of principles to guide 21st century charitable activity. The author does not offer easy solutions, only insights that demand attention and implementation. Several notions must be held in creative tension in order to forge a new generation of philanthropy and volunteerism.
Pleas for Compassion
Charity used to be a simple affair in the minds of most people. Family and friends worked to help a down-and-out member put the pieces back together. Local communities honored a select group of country-club philanthropists for their generosity to civic and service organizations. Charities relied on a large donor pool supplemented by the occasional large gift. Western nations created foreign aid and relief agencies to help the destitute in the developing world.
The ubiquity of modern communications has altered this vision forever. Global satellite communication and the Internet expose the needs of local communities and nations daily. The charitably- minded are assaulted with visual images and slick campaigns that appeal to altruistic ideals ("Compassion for the poor") and pragmatic concerns ("Invest in the future…it is good for business").
The problem is information overload and a crisis of values. The Internet places a vast amount of data in the hands of decision-makers. Sifting the kernels from the chaff can be daunting. With the overload comes skepticism and suspicion. The new wealth created by the Information Age is in the hands of leaders looking for causes and ideals without the assumptions of a previous era. Local charitable causes and religious values are still important to many, but a large number of executives are not satisfied with the profit/philanthropy model of the past 200 years. This model separates corporate goals and compassionate action. The corporation maximizes profits and sets up a foundation to give away a portion of the accumulated wealth.
The new global economy has networked people from around the world and created communities in search of common values. When a company and community have leaders and workers from all continents living together, finding common causes can be challenging because there is a "different universe next door" (James Sire). In growing technology communities around the world, the mixture of cultures, languages and world-views is stimulating, but conflicts concerning corporate culture, charity and public service are present.
The challenge for 21st century charity is to forge a set of principles that enable people to live peacefully with their deepest differences while uniting as allies or co-belligerents for the sale of local and global needs. History provides us with perspective and principles that can aid this search. At the same time, the future challenges are daunting and we must avoid naive reversion to the "good old days". In short, we need to go "back to the future".
Classical Concerns
The Greeks and Romans provide the inquirer with much valuable insight concerning charity and wealth. Together, Hellenistic culture and the genius of Roman governance impacted the world for a thousand years. The halcyon moment of Athenian democracy lasted less than a century, ending with the death of Socrates in 399 BCE. The greatness of Rome covered a longer period of time, but the most fertile era of idealism was barely two centuries long, spanning the late Republic and early Imperial eras. By 200 CE the Empire was in decline.
The classical tradition created by the Greeks and refined by the Romans attempts to hold together two principles that are at the core of Western tradition: community cohesion and individual property rights. The Athenian idealists were communitarian, eschewing private property and calling upon an educated elite to lead a democratic citizenry toward virtue. In contrast, the Roman leaders defended the rights of the propertied class and created vast welfare structures to keep the poor from disrupting the class system.
Communal and individual values have clashed for two millennia in the West. Marxist thinkers see all of history as the clash of classes, with economics as the bedrock of all other human ideals and practices. Other intellectuals see in Western history the gradual expansion of individual rights to include all classes. The American experiment represents the triumph of individual rights and the expansion of ownership opportunities.
Charity in the classical tradition is altruistic (Greek idealism) or pragmatic (Roman control of chaotic impulses) and
grounded in a sense of civic or personal virtue. There is an inviolable class system that allows the well-off to show condescending compassion to the unfortunate.
For the 21st century, charity must include the preservation of individual initiative and reward. This is what creates the new wealth and offers hope for the future. At the same time, a new local and global altruism must emerge to combat the mounting social challenges. Freedom and opportunity create prosperity. Unbridled freedom for a few creates inequities that are the seeds of anarchy and violence. Recent protests against the World Trade Organization and the International Monetary Fund represent the concerns of a wide array of people. The issue for charity is the "compassionate use of accumulated wealth" (Schaeffer).
A Look to the East
The traditions of the great civilizations of Asia provide another perspective on wealth and charity. It is important to see the distinctions among the philosophies of Asia. Hinduism and Buddhism are the dominant religious movements throughout the region, but Confucian philosophy in China and Shinto beliefs in Japan offer important insights into this vast region Western thinkers call "the East". Westerners dissatisfied with traditional philosophies and religions and weary of materialism have sought refuge in Eastern thought in increasing numbers since the 1960’s. Conversely, the global information economy has opened the Asian continent to capitalism and American and European nations are welcoming well-educated Asians into their companies, and, sometimes, into their communities.
There are two principles at the heart of Asian thinking on charity. The first, arising from Hinduism and refined by Buddhism is compassion for the poor. Hindu thinking honors charitable activity as part of the virtuous life that will eventually free the soul from karmic bondage, allowing a higher reincarnation. Buddhism promotes compassion as a part of the soul’s liberation from enslaving desires. Throughout Asia, practical acts of charity abound as a reflection of these religious impulses.
Confucian philosophy is the foundation of Chinese civilization. Modern Marxism is a recent overlay that will disappear before the middle of our new century. Confucian thinking provides the second Asian principle for 21st century charity: family and community are more important than the individual. Personal success is commended, but it must lead to support for others. Sacrificial labor on behalf of both aging relatives and the next generation is a high virtue. This leads to a strong work ethic and generous spirit toward select people. The challenge of Confucian thinking is its narrower focus on the recipients of charity. Many in this tradition see no need to give to the poor who will not work as hard as they do.
Shinto thinking in Japan places great emphasis upon respect for ancestors and authority. A communal spirit permeates corporate culture as leaders and workers sacrifice for the common good. A small group of business leaders influence affairs of state. Democratic ideals and economic reversals have challenged these impulses, but the values of respect for the past and sacrificial labor for the future remain strong.
Hinduism and Buddhism are world-denying traditions that do little to alter the structure of economic systems and charitable distributions. Confucian thinking is quite pragmatic and offers important family and community values. The narrowness of its framework makes it hard to apply in the global village of the 21st century. Shinto thought reminds Western entrepreneurs not to despise the past and to think of future generations.
Compassion, community responsibility and a sacrificial work ethic are helpful contributions from the East. There remains one other tradition that bridges East and West and offers insight into how to integrate altruism and pragmatism: other world concerns with concern for future generations on planet earth.
The Desert Bridge
Over three thousand years ago a small nation was born in the desert of the Sinai Peninsula. Led by a defecting Egyptian prince, a collection of semi-nomadic tribes received a calling to holiness and justice that is still being felt today. The ancient Law given by Moses and refined by rabbis and sages has guided the beliefs and behaviors of Jewish and Christian communities. Each of these "peoples of the Book" has distinctive doctrines but they share a common transcendent core. The radical monotheism of Israel produced an incomparable moral code. The Ten Words (Commandments) and case law of the Torah have been the underpinnings of much of Western legal and moral tradition.
From the beginning of their national formation, Israel heard the call to compassion and concern for the poor. Even the Sabbath tradition can be seen as a call to curb unbridled economic impulses. One of the early commands to this new nation was to show generosity to the poor, the alien, the orphan and the widow. Farmers were told to leave some of the crops for gleaning by the poor. Family members were commanded to care for their own. Tithing and other forms of giving were more than religious acts—the priests (when they were ethical) were to distribute the largesse to the poor.
There are two principles animating charity in Jewish tradition. The first is the idea that humans are not the owners of goods and lands, only the managers or stewards. The Jewish Law calls for a redistribution of all wealth every 50 years, with the cancellation of all debts, the liberation of all slaves and the restoration of all property to its original family owners. This was never practiced, but always upheld as an ideal. The concept of stewardship remained strong. It allowed for private property and upward mobility while balancing individual freedom with concern for the community.
The second principle is justice. Thomas Cahill, in his wonderful book, The Gift of the Jews, argues that true justice for the poor is the sign of God’s reality in the world. His book ends, "Where there is no justice, there is no God." Justice for the poor does not mean eliminating personal property or creating a communist state of affairs. Justice in this tradition means equity in the courts, fair wages and generosity for the unfortunate. The ancient prophets railed against the rich for perverting justice through bribery and unfair compensation.
Stewardship and justice are continued in the Christian tradition. The followers of Jesus were enjoined to worship God in prayer and practice. Love is the chief virtue, but it is not cheap sentimentality. It is action on behalf of others. St. Paul called for communities in Macedonia to give toward famine relief in Palestine. St. John said it was impossible to love someone and not care for practical needs where possible.
The Judeo-Christian tradition of voluntary sacrifice provided the impetus for most of Western charity. Alms, schools, hospitals, orphanages—in short, care for the poor—flow from the compassion of this tradition. Joined with classical virtue and pragmatic business sense, such ethics have transformed communities and provided the basis for most modern aid and relief programs.
Global Principles for 21st Century Charity
A coherent integration of insights from the diverse world traditions offers the best way forward for leaders looking to make a charitable impact in the season ahead. The following are offered as a starting point of what could become a new manifesto for investing in society. Principles that will unite global business and thought leaders include:
• A concern for community wholeness, locally and globally. Meeting economic and environmental needs helps ensure the long-term viability of enterprise, and humankind as a whole. A commitment to individual freedom, initiative and reasonable property rights. Prosperity is best secured by maximizing opportunity.
• A compassion for the poor that results in creative solutions to the structural roots of poverty and the voluntary sharing of resources.
• A cultural sensitivity that honors the past while forging new pathways of fidelity for the future.
• A coherent sense of justice, holding the fortunate accountable for the treatment of workers and government leaders for equity before the law.
• A creativity that:
- Connects venture capitalists from the West with new business owners in the developing world.
- Calls upon charities to learn for business leaders and business leaders to invest in societal improvement.
Imagine a world where no one starves and more and more generations are given opportunity to improve their lot.
The challenge at hand is not raw wealth, but moral and political will. Hopefully these thoughts will unite diverse leaders and stimulate further critical analysis.
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