General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Bill and Melinda Gates have a plan for income inequality [View all]JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)individuals (requests for donations) and government agencies, philanthropy is not enough. Private foundations are less efficient that government grant-giving agencies in that most foundations spend a lot on investing their money and then giving it away and on top of that have a huge social and governance overhead.
Further, philanthropists can be flattered and wooed and are often although not always kind of on a power trip. This is probably not true of the Gates. But it can be true of others.
Some philanthropic organizations give money to family-flattering projects or employ their own family members. Most often, the downside of private philanthropy is that those who give the money get to decide where it goes and their egos and personal interests are involved.
The downside of government philanthropy is politics. That is obvious.
But still, government grants are so much more efficient. They are larger, usually carefully monitored and require that the grant applications be very honest (in my experience). Besides, the government grants reflect the will of the people and tend to be conservatively awarded.
So I favor a balance between private philanthropy and public grants with more money coming from the public, government grants. Private philanthropy should be secondary in my opinion.
Still the Gates are right. We should look beyond our borders. I think we should look beyond our borders not only to see those who are suffering more than we are but also those who are doing better than we are. And one of the characteristics of societies that are doing better than we are in general is that they are more egalitarian and have less disparity in wealth than we do. I would like to see the Gates take more of an interest in how to help the homeless in our country and how to lift up our middle class. I'm not a fan of charter schools. I think they draw the better students, but I don't think their teachers are as professional as are public school teachers, not as well trained, younger maybe, enthusiastic, but not as experienced and not as throrough. I thinkn charter schools are a bit of a fad.