A Role Model for Generosity

Much is being made of Warren Buffett's announcement yesterday that he is donating most of his tremendous fortune to charity, and rightly so. Mr. Buffett's generosity, along with that of Bill and Melinda Gates, should be an inspiration to all of us as to how individuals can really make a difference in the world.

Sure, they are the richest individuals on the planet and most of us would never compare ourselves to them - but the fact that these incredibly wealthy people who *could* just sit in a vault and count all their money have instead chosen to devote their fortunes, and in many cases their time and business acumen, to helping others demonstrates to the whole world how altruism really should be a priority. These are smart men who made themselves incredibly rich by being savvy businessmen -- so take from their example that charity, too, is good business.

For years, Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, and Bill Gates Sr. (his father, a co-chair of the Foundation along with Bill and Melinda) have spoken passionately about the need for personal philanthropy, the benefits of a meritocracy over inherited wealth (sorry, Buffett and Gates kids), and the reasons to oppose the conversative push for repealing the estate tax.

The media was pointing to the connection this morning that Gates and Buffett were making their announcements at the New York Public Library, which was a beneficiary of Andrew Carnegie's tremendous wealth in a previous century. It's interesting to consult Mr. Carnegie's thoughts on the matter -- he was a towering figure in Pittsburgh, where I cut my teeth in the fundraising sector, and his philanthropic legacy is felt every single day in the city he loved and across the nation. Selections from his The Gospel of Wealth indicate that the current generation of titans must be learning from his example. Carnegie was opposed to hereditary wealth, opposed to leaving bequests at one's death, in favor of an estate tax, and very much in favor of personal philanthropy as a way to address societal needs resulting from the income gap and, at the same time, justify one's own success:

"...the thoughtful man must shortly say, "I would as soon leave to my son a curse as the almighty dollar," and admit to himself that it is not the welfare of the children, but family pride, which inspires these legacies."

"It is well to remember that it requires the exercise of not less ability than that which acquires it, to use wealth so as to be really beneficial to the community."

"The growing disposition to tax more and more heavily large estates left at death is a cheering indication of the growth of a salutary change in public opinion...Of all forms of taxation this seems the wisest. Men who continue hoarding great sums all their lives, the proper use of which for public ends would work good to the community from which it chiefly came, should be made to feel that the community, in the form of the State, cannot thus be deprived of its proper share. By taxing estates heavily at death the State marks its condemnation of the selfish millionaire's unworthy life."

"There remains, then, only one mode of using great fortunes {devoting them to public good}; but in this we have the true antidote for the temporary unequal distribution of wealth, the reconciliation of the rich and the poor - a reign of harmony, another ideal, differing, indeed, from that of the Communist in requiring only the further evolution of existing conditions, not the total overthrow of our civilization. It is founded upon the present most intense Individualism...Under its sway we shall have an ideal State, in which the surplus wealth of the few will become, in the best sense, the property of the many, because administered for the common good..."

"Poor and restricted are our opportunities in this life, narrow our horizon, our best work most imperfect; but rich men should be thankful for one inestimable boon. They have it in their power during their lives to busy themselves in organizing benefactions from which the masses of their fellows will derive lasting advantage, and thus dignify their own lives."

"This, then, is held to be the duty of the man of wealth: To set an example of modest, unostentatious living, shunning display or extravagance; to provide moderately for the legitimate wants of those dependent upon him; and, after doing so, to consider all surplus revenues which come to him simply as trust funds, which he is called upon to administer, and strictly bound as a matter of duty to administer in the matter which, in his judgment, is best calculated to produce the most beneficial results for the community..."

And perhaps his most definitive statement:
"The man who dies thus rich dies disgraced."

In a time when we all can see that public funding and government budgets are getting slashed left and right, and the idea of "raising taxes" strikes fear in any politician's heart, our country *must* rely on the generosity of private citizens to support the programs and causes that work for positive change in every sector. Whether someone can donate 10 billion or 10 bucks, every donation counts in the effort to make this a better world in which to live, work, and learn.