The Historical Split Between Charity and Philanthropy

As many of you know, we are about to close the doors on the Bradley Center for Philanthropy and Civil Society, after 12 years of operation and 148 panel discussions on all aspects of philanthropy and the nonprofit sector, approaching them from a rich variety of disciplines and points of view. Nothing could be more appropriate for our final panel than to turn our attention to the proudest claim of the modern American foundation: namely, that it practices philanthropy – it solves problems at their source – as opposed to charity, which merely puts band-aids on problems.

We commissioned the first thoroughgoing historical monograph on this topic from Benjamin Soskis, a Fellow at George Mason's Center for Nonprofit Management, Philanthropy and Policy. The Chronicle of Philanthropy just ran an op-ed he wrote, drawing from the monograph. To discuss this major addition to the scholarship on philanthropy and civil society, we assembled a distinguished panel, including Case Western Reserve Professor David Hammack, Patty Stonesifer, formerly of the Gates Foundation, and Scott Walter of the Capital Research Center. Hudson Institute Senior Fellow William Schambra moderated.

Required Reading:
"Both More and No More: The Historical Split Between Charity and Philanthropy":http://hudson.org/research/10723-both-more-and-no-more-the-historical-s… by Benjamin Soskis

"Today’s Problems Call for Reviving Charity—and Eliminating the Need for It":http://philanthropy.com/article/Today-s-Problems-Call-for/149427/ by Benjamin Soskis