Robin Hood Was Right: A Guide to Giving Your Money for Social Change

by Chuck Collins, Pam Rogers, Joan P. Garner

"Bold in its philosophy and down-to-earth in the application of that philosophy."―Howard Zinn, author of A People’s History of the United States Last year, Americans donated $150 billion to charity. Giving has never been more popular, possible―or, for many, more confusing. There are oceans of need, mountains of requests, and often little time for the consideration needed to give thoughtfully and effectively. "Change, not charity!" is this book’s enthusiastic theme. Long-time activists and givers, authors Chuck Collins and Pam Rogers show that traditional charity most often reinforces the status quo and maintains the dynamics of dependency and control. The progressive ethic of giving endorsed in this book, on the other hand, offers detailed ways to address the root causes of societal problems. With numerous organizational listings and hundreds of helpful suggestions, Robin Hood Was Right is a fun, user-friendly guide for the socially conscious giver, whether one is able to give annually $500 or $5,000,000.

Genres: Nonfiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2000

About the author

Chuck is the director of the Program on Inequality at the Institute for Policy Studies, where he co-edits Inequality.org. He oversees a number of programs focused on wealth inequality, the racial wealth divide, and philanthropy reform.

Reviews

[Joanne Giannino]

Life changing.

[Silvia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thorough, helpful, and encouraging guide to how charitable and social giving can do more. Definitely written with progressive goals in mind, but great advice for anyone looking to make meaningful gifts to organizations and causes that matter to them.

I'm using it to help me rework my giving goals for the coming year, and will probably return to it after several years to refresh.

[Kevin Demel · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this book hoping to find ways to donate money to create change. They had a large list of organizations but seemed to focus on more liberal values. Also, besides recommending donate for long term change vs. short term charity there wasn't much of value in the book.

[Mckinley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit about why, not in any preaching way, more about giving as a personal choice with added satisfaction. Much about about how to. Valuable.