I've changed my mind. I was once cynical about philanthropy and charity: I saw people cutting corners and taking shortcuts all week, then dropping a few coins in the plate on Sunday to appease their gods and consciences. I was wrong. Well, mainly wrong.
Generations ago, when there was no personal tax or social safety net, the rich gave to soup kitchens - and charity got a bad name. People of my political persuasion believe 'society', through government programmes, should have the dominant responsibility in providing a safety net, after the individual's responsibility to themselves and family. However, philanthropy is a major enterprise overseas, especially in the United States where, for generations, the Carnegies and Rockefellers - and now the Gates and Buffett families - see it as natural to donate billions to good works. The great universities of Harvard, Princeton and Duke have billion-dollar endowment funds supplied by grateful graduates.
The biggest per capita givers in the US are working-class, conservative Christians. The smallest are liberal public servants who, I suspect, would rather sign petitions and pass resolutions calling for social justice than pay up. The Muslim world, where the state often plays a small social role, is amazingly generous on a personal level - charity being one of the Prophet Mohammed's most basic instructions.
In poor countries, I've seen non-governmental organisations and philanthropic efforts elbow out corrupt politicians and bureaucrats to get things done. Wealthy philanthropists typically keep it simple, with low-tech, practical, inexpensive ideas. I met a wealthy car dealer who had donated half a million wheelchairs to Africa and India.
One great idea was a school playground roundabout. But this particular roundabout was connected to a pump that sent water up into a tank. Advertising was sold on the tank to pay for the system's maintenance. Children playing on the roundabout could pump enough volume to provide running water to 2,000 people. The cost: US$20,000.
Peter Watson, an expatriate New Zealander and former head of the US Overseas Private Investment Corporation, a government agency, put together a great project in South Africa, providing mortgages for HIV-positive people. Microsoft, meanwhile, is putting computers into 32,000 African schools.
