Philanthrocapitalism_ How Giving Can Save the World - Matthew Bishop [0]
Title Page
Dedication
Photo
Introduction
1. The Explosion of Private Citizens Doing Public Good
2. Giving Money
3. Giving Time
4. Giving Things
5. Giving Skills
6. Gifts of Reconciliation and New Beginnings
7. Gifts That Keep on Giving
8. Model Gifts
9. Giving to Good Ideas
10. Organizing Markets for the Public Good
11. Nonprofit Markets Can Be Organized Too
12. What About Government?
13. How Much Should You Give and Why?
Acknowledgments
Resources
Also by Bill Clinton
Copyright
To the dedicated staff, volunteers, partners, and financial supporters of the Clinton Foundation, Library, and School of Public Service, and to the memory of Ellen Verweij, a fine Dutch nurse who lost her life while serving in our HIV/AIDS initiative in Lesotho
INTRODUCTION
WHEN I LEFT the White House, I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life giving my time, money, and skills to worthwhile endeavors where I could make a difference. I didn’t know exactly what I would do, but I wanted to help save lives, solve important problems, and give more young people the chance to live their dreams. I felt obligated to do it because of the wonderful, improbable life I’d been given by the American people and because politics, which consumed so much of my life, is a “getting” business. You have to get support, contributions, and votes, over and over again. If you serve well, it’s probably a fair trade, but no sensible person can do it as long as I did without thinking you still have to give more to balance the scales. Besides, I thought I’d enjoy it. Like many people who are fortunate to live full, rewarding lives, I reached a point in my journey where, apart from taking care of my family and being with them and my friends, what I cared most about was doing what I could to make sure people younger than me don’t die before their time and aren’t denied the chance to find their own fulfillment. After I narrowly escaped what could have been a fatal heart attack in 2004, I felt that way even more strongly.
This drive has led me into a wide variety of service projects, a number of which are chronicled in this book. It has also given me a far greater appreciation of the countless acts of giving I have witnessed all my life and sometimes have taken for granted. And it has convinced me that almost everyone—regardless of income, available time, age, and skills—can do something useful for others and, in the process, strengthen the fabric of our shared humanity.
Like most Americans of my generation, I first learned about giving in my church, where we were taught to tithe. Most kids my age also gave small amounts to the March of Dimes crusade against polio. After Billy Graham spoke to a racially integrated crusade in Little Rock when Central High School was closed in the fight over desegregation in 1958, I sent a small portion of my allowance to his ministry for a few months. In my teens, I did the usual volunteer work associated with school activities and helping the needy around Thanksgiving and Christmas.
When I was in my first year of college, I gave a little time to a community project Georgetown University ran in poor neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., and contributed to the occasional good cause, but I dedicated most of my free time to friends and campus activities. During my last two years of college, at Oxford, and at Yale Law School, I became obsessed with politics and gave very little time or money to anything else.
After I went home to Arkansas to teach law, I did some pro bono legal work and began to make small contributions to causes I was interested in. During the years I served as governor, I tried to set aside 10 percent of my income for giving: for my church, my alma maters, and worthy local projects like a shelter for abused women and children in our neighborhood. Because I was involved in politics from 1974 on, I didn’t give much time to other things.
Hillary was a different story. When I met her in law school, she was involved with a local project to provide legal services to poor people. She took