“My experience taught me to approach philanthropy and nonprofits with skepticism, and to believe it what there is evidence for, not only what I see, what I believe, and what I think.
Somehow, despite the significant impact of the education and experience, the philanthropic values given to me by my parents remained the dominant influence.
It’s hard to teach children about philanthropy. It’s even harder to teach children how to ‘do good.’ I know many 50-year olds who are still trying to figure out for themselves how to ‘do good,’ and very few people can even agree on the best ways to ‘do good.’
So let me say this instead: teach your children to BE good. Teach by example. Educate them to think critically. Expose them to the world.”
That’s Tara Steinmetz, one of our MPP students, in a post on her blog. She was a Peace Corps volunteer in the Gambia, so has an interest in development policy on top of her interest in philanthropy. That’s a rare combination, and it makes for very interesting writing.
As for how to teach philanthropy, I agree with Tara up to a point. I can trace my philanthropic involvement to my father’s involvement when I was younger with philanthropies like the Rotary Club and the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, but I cannot dismiss the role of incentives.
The incentives for giving to charity are many in the US compared to where I come from, starting with the fact that the tax break you get for charitable contributions is a lot better on this side of the border. I’m always amused when Canadian magazines run articles about the great divide in charitable contributions between the two countries and can’t quite seem to identify the main factor, only to blame “culture.” Likewise, people may be less inclined to give to charity when the state is more involved in the provision of health, education, and social services.
Still, if I had to write down an economic model of charitable contributions, the three major determinants of charitable contributions in my model would probably be one’s income, learning from one’s parents, and tax incentives.