Charity and Philantropy

Some introspection is necessary as we set out on a quest, to discover joy in giving. One often associates 'giving' with charity. In India, we focus a lot on the 'charitable acts' of an individual. A 'charitable individual' according to us, is one who gives freely to the needy, often gives freely to religious causes, can be called upon to help generously during times of disaster and usually contributes at an individual level. Could we also say such a person is philantrophic? Not necessarily, for there is a marked difference between philantropy and charity.

Charity is often impulsive and humane, like giving alms to a beggar, clothes to those who need it, helping a victim of an accident, to give a few examples. Charity is usually not associated with commitment. We do not give the same beggar alms everyday and neither do we wonder what happened to him after we have given the alms. It is associated with generosity and gifting, much of it instinctive, basically with giving those who need it, a helping hand. To use a much used analogy, charity is like giving a hungry man a fish.

Philantropy on the other hand, is more humanitarian in its vision. It is more institutional, and operates on a larger canvas than charity and hence is more organised. There is more altruism associated with philantropy than with charity and a sense of justice that is lacking in charity. There is also a commitment in this that is not always present in charity. In contrast to charity, philantropy is like teaching a hungry man to fish and the focus here is on moving towards a more equitable society.

Does this mean we are demeaning or negating acts performed with charitable intent ? Not at all, for such acts are necessary to spread the message of giving and quite often are the points of departure to bigger philantropic acts. Mother Teresa began by helping one homeless man die with dignity, Vandana of The Banyan began by helping a single destitute mentally ill woman move out of the streets. Both of them moved on to establish philantropic institutions funded by individual and institutional contributions, made possible by tapping the inherent impulse to give, present in most of us. When people contribute collectively to a cause, a philantropist or a philantropic institution is born, and that should be our goal for the Joy of Giving Week, to give collectively and generously in order to bring about lasting change in individuals and through them in society