Giving Compass' Take:

· Vidya Shah at India Development Review addresses the growing skepticism around philanthropy and how philanthropists can better align their work with the demands of society.

· How can philanthropists build trust? How can they better align their work with the goals of society to show impact?

· Learn how philanthropies are working to respond to growing scrutiny.

What does philanthropy in India look like today, and what has it managed to do? Is it really changing the world and people’s lives? Or is it simply an extension of capitalism and an opportunity for the super-rich to strengthen their stranglehold on economic activity as well as development and social progress?

In India, the CSR guidelines as outlined in the Companies Act 2013, was first met with great distress and protest about an additional, disguised tax being levied on corporations to do what governments needed to do. In the five years since, any corporation worth its salt is producing detailed sustainability reports to attest to its good corporate citizenship.

However, skepticism around philanthropy is growing. Critics like Anand Giridharadas worry that asking philanthropy to solve society’s problems means the return of ‘unfettered paternalism’. Elizabeth Kolbert asks “Are today’s donor classes solving problems–or creating new ones?” and possibly, also answers her own question when she says that “We live, it is often said, in a new Gilded Age—an era of extravagant wealth and almost as extravagant displays of generosity”.

Or perhaps as David Remnick comments “Philanthropy isn’t only fascinating in itself; it’s also a window into the structure of the contemporary world”. There is little trust in ‘the man of wealth considering himself the mere trustee and agent for his poor brethren, bringing to their service his superior wisdom, experience and ability to administer’.

Read the full article about skepticism about philanthropy by Vidya Shah at India Development Review.