A New Story for Philanthropy

photography by Nevada Wier, by permission

In a recent opinion piece in the New York Times, artist and philanthropist, Peter Buffett, the son of the 4^th wealthiest person in the world, wrote a scathing critique of the current philanthropic system calling it: “The Charitable-Industrial Complex”. As someone who’s worked for more than two decades in many areas of philanthropy, including 16 years as a foundation program officer, I think Buffett has a point.  And more importantly, I think we’re beginning to discover some potent solutions to the problems to which Buffett is pointing.

Buffett believes that instead of addressing the symptoms of current problems as is the practice with most philanthropy, “money should be spent trying out concepts that shatter current structures and systems that have turned much of the world into one vast market.”  “It’s time for a new operating system,” says Buffett. “Something built from the ground up. New code.” In other words, a completely new story.