Philanthropy Is Not A Bad Word

Philanthropy is not a bad word.

Since coming to Seattle in April of last year, I have heard a couple of people mention that we should stop using the word philanthropy. Why? Because it leaves a bad taste in people’s mouths. It has a certain negative connotation to it that invokes images of rich men in top hats, smoking pipes while wearing a monocle deigning to give money to all of those poor people in straw houses. Maybe that is a slight exaggeration, but more to their point, they often cite that the younger generations are turned off by this word. In a nation that prides itself on being one of the most philanthropic, how could this have happened?

I don’t have an answer, but would like to frame the discussion in a different light. Let’s go back to the origin of the word philanthropy, which after you become familiar with it, is a story that can appeal to almost any crowd (spoiler alert: there’s fire!). Philanthropos was borne from a myth in which Prometheus saves primitive human creatures from living in constant fear of Zeus. Barely humans, these creatures had no knowledge, culture nor skills until Prometheus takes pity and gives them fire and optimism. With these gifts, humans are able to protect themselves from the wrath of a tyrant and rise up.

There are underlying connotations to each of these gifts – fire symbolizing art, science, technology, etc and optimism, which would manifest itself as blind hope, the drive for improvement. These two gifts were meant to be mutually beneficial and sustaining: humans would use the optimism to create cultural and technological improvements, and those cultural improvements would sustain their optimism. This birthed the word that meant “loving the human potential,” which we would eventually brand philanthropy. For his crime against Zeus, Prometheus was fated to have his liver eaten out by eagles only to have it regenerate and repeat ad infinitum.

Modern day philanthropy is a little less dramatic, but is still centered on the same concept of loving human potential. It is this definition of philanthropy that I feel the most affinity towards and why SVP was such a great fit for me as a staff member. I wouldn’t exactly say that I am an optimist nor that I love all humans, but I do believe in giving people the opportunity to be great. Philanthropy betters both the humans that give and the people that receive. Even if it is small, it makes significant positive change that has potential to spread.

It’s my hope that people will start to think of philanthropy in this same way. Through my experiences with SVP I have learned that philanthropy is not necessarily money, but can also be time, talent and ideas all toward helping human kind reach their potential. Merriam Webster’s primary definition of Philanthropist is “one who makes an active effort to promote human welfare;” note there is no mention of money, top hats or monocles. To those that do give in any one of those things, wear that philanthropy badge humbly but proudly. To this 25 year old, Gen Y-er, philanthropy is not a bad word.