Philanthrocapitalism_ How Giving Can Save the World - Matthew Bishop [14]
We can learn a lot about giving from young people. Indeed, the best book I’ve come across on the subject was written by a young person. A Kid’s Guide to Giving by Freddi Zeiler provides a good roadmap to giving for people of all ages. Zeiler published the book in 2006, when she was a twenty-year-old student at the University of California at Berkeley, with the support of By Kids for Kids, an organization devoted to releasing the innovative spirit within all children and helping them to become good problem solvers. Zeiler started giving money away at fourteen, and over the years learned a lot about how to develop the discipline to save enough for giving, as well as how to volunteer time, donate goods, and organize charity events. The book examines three important issues: why you should give, how to choose a cause, and how to contribute money, time, or things. It also has a useful list of charities and a clear summary analysis of the needs of people, animals, and the environment.
Last Christmas, Hillary and I gave copies of Zeiler’s book to our two nephews, ages twelve and thirteen. We told them we’d send them a certain amount of money each month if they would agree to give 25 percent of it to charitable causes of their choice and write or call us each month with an account of what they supported and why; then we’d send the next installment. They both eagerly accepted the offer and are taking their responsibility seriously. So far, they’ve given money to the American Heart Association; Animal Rescue New Orleans, which cares for and finds homes for pets left homeless by Hurricane Katrina; and Seeds of Peace, which promotes mutual respect and understanding between young Arabs and Israelis. I hope giving develops into a lifetime habit for them, and I recommend the book, and the exercise, to you.
THREE
Giving Time
WHILE WE DON’T all have the same amount of money, we do have access to the same twenty-four hours in every day. Though some people have much less free time than others, nearly everyone can carve out some opportunity for giving. The gift of time can sometimes be more satisfying and more valuable than money, as Americans will tell you who have volunteered at a homeless shelter or center for troubled families, brought meals on wheels to seniors or gone to the grocery store for an elderly neighbor, helped with nonmedical tasks in hospitals, tutored young students in reading or math, mentored kids from poor neighborhoods to help them prepare for college and succeed in life, served as an AmeriCorps volunteer, or stacked sandbags during a flood.
What you do with your time-giving depends on how much you have to give, what you know, and most of all, what you really care about. A treasured few give a lifetime of service to others. A few more give a year or two, usually early in life or after years of work or in retirement. Still more give a few weeks a year. Many step up in the aftermath of a natural disaster. And millions of people give an hour or so a week. In the United States, about 55 percent of American adults, almost 84 million people, give some time every year. Total time-giving exceeds the hours put in by more than nine million full-time employees, with a value of $239 billion, almost as much as the $260 billion in financial contributions Americans made in 2005. If everyone gave just the time he or she could, it would help millions of people.
One of the world’s greatest full-time givers is Dr. Paul Farmer. Farmer had an interesting childhood. His father and mother never made enough money to give their six children economic security, and