Philanthropists are often said to be “giving back to the community.” The implication? They took something that ought to be returned.
David Riggs, writing as a concerned private citizen and not in his professional capacity as an executive of the Pope Foundation, challenges that notion in a letter to the editor in today’s News & Observer:
When a home-grown corporation is asked to give back, one naturally wonders, what did the corporation take?
The
answer is that corporations do not take wealth from their communities;
they create wealth by serving their customers through voluntary trade.
Philanthropists who understand this do not give because they “owe”
something to their community; they give through their generosity of
heart. They want to add to the community’s wealth, which they already
helped create through their enterprises. They want to give more, not
give back.
John Hood took on the “giving back” myth in this recent column.?
