"More than eight hundred years ago, Maimonides wrote that the highest form of giving is to make charity itself unnecessary. That wisdom feels newly relevant today as questions about power and purpose continue to shape modern philanthropy. Last week, writing in The Wall Street Journal Laurene Powell Jobs revisited the idea, warning that too often wealth becomes a substitute for participation."
"When donations become instruments of direction-when benefactors seek to decide what matters and who gets to belong-philanthropy drifts from "love of humanity" toward a contest for influence. MacKenzie Scott offered another image: a murmuration of starlings, millions of birds moving as one without a leader. Their direction, she noted, emerges from continuous response to one another's movements. Her metaphor captures what the next evolution of philanthropy might look like-decentralized, adaptive, and animated by trust."
Maimonides taught that the highest form of giving makes charity unnecessary. Wealth can become a substitute for participation when donors expect control. Giving that expects control undermines generosity and shifts philanthropy toward contests for influence. Decentralized generosity resembles a murmuration, where direction emerges from continuous mutual responsiveness. Real and lasting progress often arises from proximity rather than top-down prescription. Institutional giving habits—short cycles, risk aversion, and strict demands for measurable outcomes—can impede adaptive change. Metrics and accountability matter, and genuine partnership requires funders to be as transparent and self-examining as their partners.
Read at Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
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