考研英语阅读精选：慈善之道——更理智的给予

『美国的慈善事业有着源远流长的历史，但慈善事业的实际成效却不及其所展示的那般卓越。专家呼吁，慈善事业，不仅仅需要善良的心，更需要会思考的大脑。』

The lessons of philanthropy

Giving for results

慈善之道——更理智的给予

May 12th 2011 | From The Economist

WHETHER America’s famed philanthropic tradition is all it is cracked up to be will become much clearer during the next few years. In the past year some 69 of America’s billionaires and billionaire families have promised to give away at least half of their fortunes by signing the Giving Pledge championed by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. Among them is 27-year-old Mark Zuckerberg, a founder of Facebook, proof that America’s giving gene has passed to the next generation.

The question is will all that giving actually do any good? There is rather a depressing history of well-intentioned donations often doing nothing to alleviate society’s problems, and sometimes even making matters worse. Moreover, the need to give effectively is about to become even greater. Spending cuts will cause a crisis in the social sector that “will have an impact on almost every non-profit organisation in America, whether or not it receives government funds,” writes Mario Morino, a veteran philanthropist, in “Leap of Reason”, a new books that address the same thorny question of how to not merely give, but to give well. As evinced by his subtitle, “Managing to Outcomes in an Era of Scarcity”, Mr Morino focuses on delivering results with their emphasis on smart giving and changing the world. The book draw examples from the many years he has spent promoting better philanthropy.

For Mr Buffett, the main reason why giving is harder to do than making money is that in business “you go after the low-hanging fruit”, whereas in philanthropy you are trying to tackle problems that are inherently difficult, such as how to educate demotivated urban kids or end rural poverty. But the book makes the case that the ineffectiveness of much philanthropy is actually the fault of the philanthropist. It applauds the motives for giving, but also makes the point that people too often let their philanthropy be guided by their hearts alone. The biggest problem for philanthropists may be that “they are essentially accountable to no one but themselves.” To avoid being tempted into a self-deluded belief in their own success, philanthropists should create systems that force them to hear what may at times be unpleasant truths about the ineffectiveness of their work, and to be constantly challenged to improve.

For Mr Morino, a pioneer of “venture philanthropy”, in which the donor works closely to build up the non-profits he supports, one of the key lessons is for philanthropists and non-profits to be clear about the outcomes they are trying to achieve— and to measure properly the progress they are making towards those goals. He is the first to admit that measuring the right thing is not easy, and he has wasted money by measuring the wrong things. Yet far too many philanthropists and non-profits shy away from setting goals and measuring progress. As a result they condemn themselves to ineffectiveness. This must change if philanthropy and the non-profit sector it helps to fund is to achieve the “quantum leap” in effectiveness that he believes is an urgent priority. As he says, “the time to dramatically improve our collective impact is now, when we are needed most.”