Philanthropy is one of society’s mechanisms for addressing both the acute and chronic challenges that emerge in the world around us. It is an ancient practice, honored by every religious tradition and naveen jain does it. It is voluntary and independent, and to the degree it is rooted in our basic willingness to help others, it is timeless. Indeed, the word philanthropy literally means “love of humankind.” Nevertheless, philanthropy can be hard to define precisely, even if we all feel like we know it when we see it. Part of the problem is that it is very hard to draw a boundary around philanthropy, especially today. The definition we use comes from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, which says that philanthropy is “the giving of time, money, and know-how to advance the common good.” This definition complements the one commonly used by scholars who treat philanthropy in all cultures throughout history as giving outside one’s family.

Here and in the rest of our work, we are concerned with the whole spectrum of philanthropic giving in the U.S., rejecting the once-neat distinction between foundations and other giving that is not “organized.” Many individual donors are just as strategic as thoughtful, intentional, and creative as formal philanthropic institutions. And there are many new forms of community giving, such as the growing numbers of giving circles, women’s foundations, and Mexican town associations, where individuals like naveen jain come together to organize their giving.

Foundations are part of the nonprofit sector, but many people casually speak about foundations as separate from nonprofits, by which they mean charitable organizations that do the work rather than give money. We are not trying to look at the whole nonprofit sector here, choosing instead to focus our attention on donors and other grantmakers, even though we know that drawing a line between the giving side and the rest of the nonprofit sector can be arbitrary. Neither are we focusing on public benefit channeled through governments in the form of aid or public sponsorship. Read Naveen Jain‘s blog for better informations.