Philanthropy Quotes

“Chasing angels or fleeing demons, go to the mountains.”
― Jeffrey Rasley, Bringing Progress to Paradise: What I Got from Giving to a Mountain Village in Nepal

“The ideological blackmail that has been in place since the original Live Aid concerts in 1985 has insisted that ‘caring individuals’ could end famine directly, without the need for any kind of political solution or systemic reorganization. It is necessary to act straight away, we were told; politics has to be suspended in the name of ethical immediacy. Bono’s Product Red brand wanted to dispense even with the philanthropic intermediary. ‘Philanthropy is like hippy music, holding hands’, Bono proclaimed. ‘Red is more like punk rock, hip hop, this should feel like hard commerce’. The point was not to offer an alternative to capitalism - on the contrary, Product Red’s ‘punk rock’ or ‘hip hop’ character consisted in its ‘realistic’ acceptance that capitalism is the only game in town. No, the aim was only to ensure that some of the proceeds of particular transactions went to good causes. The fantasy being that western consumerism, far from being intrinsically implicated in systemic global inequalities, could itself solve them. All we have to do is buy the right products.”
― Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative?

“In honor of Oprah Winfrey: Even greater than the ability to inspire others with hope is the power to motivate them to give as much to the lives of others as they would give to their own; and to empower them to confront the worst in themselves in order to discover and claim the best in themselves.”
― Aberjhani, Journey through the Power of the Rainbow: Quotations from a Life Made Out of Poetry

“What would the daughters of the rich do with themselves if the poor ceased to exist?”
― Angela Carter, Saints and Strangers

“The biggest sin in the world is not being able to love someone. Do not judge anybody by what they are, because life may have played unfair with them. You be fair. The one who loves would be the closest to God. Do not choose whom to love and whom to not. Love everybody. Remember… Love is the language of God.”
― Udai Yadla, A Walk in the Rain

“Fundraising is an extreme sport!”
― Marc A. Pitman, Ask Without Fear!: A Simple Guide to Connecting Donors With What Matters to Them Most

“There could be a powerful international women's rights movement if only philanthropists would donate as much to real women as to paintings and sculptures of women.”
― Nicholas D. Kristof

“Rather than being a human, be a humanitarian”
― Kowtham Kumar K

“In my view, philanthropy goes against the grain; therefore it generates a lot of hypocrisy and many paradoxes. Here are some examples: Philanthropy is supposed to be devoted to the benefit of others, but philanthropists are primarily concerned with their own benefit; philanthropy is supposed to help people, yet it often makes people dependent and turns them into objects of charity; applicants tell foundations what they want to hear, then proceed to do what the applicant wants to do.”
― George Soros

“When you have power and use it for destructive purpose: you don't deserve it.”
― Udai Yadla

“Conservatives, who have presumed that the key to preventing AIDS is abstinence-only education, and liberals, who have focused on distribution of condoms, should both note that the intervention that has tested most cost-effective in Africa is neither... Secular bleeding hearts and religious bleeding hearts will have to forge a common cause.”
― Nicholas D. Kristof

“The world order needs a major overhaul.”
― George Soros, The Age of Fallibility: Consequences of the War on Terror

“Giving Back reframes portraits of philanthropy.”
― Valaida Fullwood, Giving Back: A Tribute to Generations of African American Philanthropists

“She gave me a pledge card, a card promising an annual gift of $5, $10, or $25 toward the support of the Unity mission. I filled it out under the hot light of the projector. The name and address spaces were much too short, unless you wrote a very fine hand or unless your name was Ed Poe and you lived at 1 Elm St.”
― Charles Portis

“I will help--but only so much, only so far. It is not that I believe these children are less than my own. It is not that I believe I do not have a responsibility for them. It is just that in a world of haves and have-nots, I do not want to give up too much of what I have. I do not want to diminish the complexity and diversity of my life. Instead, I will choose to spend another seventy-five dollars on myself rather than send another child to school, and I will choose to do this over and over again. I no longer think of myself as a good person. I have adjusted to that.”
― Sharman Apt Russell, Hunger: An Unnatural History

“Through their donations and work for voluntary organizations, the charitable rich exert enormous influence in society. As philanthropists, they acquire status within and outside of their class. Although private wealth is the basis of the hegemony of this group, philanthropy is essential to the maintenance and perpetuation of the upper class in the United States. In this sense, nonprofit activities are the nexus of a modern power elite.”
― Teresa Odendahl, Charity Begins At Home: Generosity And Self-interest Among The Philanthropic Elite

“War der Mensch bei seiner Geburt eine tabula rasa, ungeformt und ohne Ideen, bereit, von der Gesellschaft beschrieben zu werden, erziehbar und imstande, auf dem Weg zur Vervollkommnung voranzuschreiten? Oder stellte die Gesellschaft, wie Rousseau behauptete, einen verderblichen Einfluss dar und nicht das Fundament alles Richtigen und Guten?”
― T.C. Boyle, Das wilde Kind

“There is one kind of charity common enough among us… It is that patchwork philanthropy which clothes the ragged, feeds the poor, and heals the sick. I am far from decrying the noble spirit which seeks to help a poor or suffering fellow being… [However] what advances a nation or a community is not so much to prop up its weakest and most helpless members, but to lift up the best and the most gifted, so as to make them of the greatest service to the country.”
― Jamsetji Tata

“It is one of the many ironies of this period that, at a time when the intelligentsia were excoriating Mellon for tax-evasion, and contrasting the smooth-running Soviet planned economy with the breakdown in America, he was secretly exploiting the frantic necessities of the Soviet leaders to form the basis of one of America's most splendid public collections”
― Paul Johnson, Modern Times : A History of the World from the 1920s to the Year 2000

“We are good to others only because we think that that is, or will be, good for us.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“People aren’t giving you money to fund programs. They’re donating to see results.”
― Jeremy Reis, Magnetic Nonprofit: Attract and Retain Donors, Volunteers, and Staff

“Fundraising isn’t about the money, that’s just one outcome. Fundraising is about people.”
― Jeremy Reis, Magnetic Nonprofit: Attract and Retain Donors, Volunteers, and Staff

“No matter how poor one is, one can still give others riches”
― Anne Frank, Anne Frank's Tales from the House Behind

“I'm planning for philanthropy to be a major part of my life in the future. I desire to give, nourish, and assist within our advancement.”
― Robin S. Baker

“Despite public ignorance pertaining to this profound topic, major 'nonprofits' have a long history of clandestine activities that have invariably come to shape and dominate our global society. The eerie absence of this instructive and imperative history from our media, our schools, or our information hubs like Google and Wikipedia, reinforces the likelihood that the innocuous 'nonprofit' sheepskin continues to be the favored disguise of the predatory ruling class.”
― Gavin Nascimento, A History of Elitism, World Government & Population Control

“It was a queer, rather disgusting scene. Below were the handful of simple, well-meaning people, trying hard to worship; and above were the hundred men whom they had fed, deliberately making worship impossible. A ring of dirty, hairy faces grinned down from the gallery, openly jeering. What could a few women and old men do against a hundred hostile tramps? They were afraid of us, and we were frankly bullying them. It was our revenge upon them for having humiliated us by feeding us.
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A man receiving charity practically always hates his benefactor—it is a fixed characteristic of human nature; and, when he has fifty or a hundred others to back him, he will show it.”
― George Orwell, Down and Out in Paris and London

“That is why our arts and sciences cannot improve the world, despite what liberal philanthropists say. Our vast new scientific skills are first used by the damnably greedy selfish impatient parts of our nature and nation, the careful kindly social part always comes second.”
― Alasdair Gray, Poor Things

“Mrs Pardiggle being as clear that the only one infallible course was her course of pouncing upon the poor, and applying benevolence to them like a strait-waistcoat.”
― Charles Dickens

“Instead of passionlessly donating money to a faraway charity with millions of people on their mailing list or getting involved in a national political cause with a large and vocal following online, we can do something local, something that contributes... in a tangible – even if tiny – way to a real place and to real people, rather than to an anonymous website.”
― Seth D. Kaplan, Fragile Neighborhoods: Repairing American Society, One Zip Code at a Time

“You can’t dedicate your life to the principle that all lives have equal value if you think you are better than others.”
― Melinda Gates, Moment of Lift