Giving Compass' Take:

• Akhtar Badshah deems philanthropists a necessity in the pandemic response to prevent a massive uptick in global inequality, poverty, and hunger.

• What are you doing today to bolster the pandemic response? What are the consequences of prolonging our support for those in need? Why is collaboration our only hope at staving off this pandemic?

• Learn more about why you should double your giving and more.

One of humanity’s most stunning achievements is that we have lifted so many people out of poverty. Indeed, for the first time in human history the proportion of people living in extreme poverty fell to less than 10% of the world population. But the gains we’ve made against the indignity of poverty could be wiped out — and hunger and inequality could worsen drastically — unless we act fast to stem the economic fallout from the current global public health crisis. Alongside action by the private sector and governments, big philanthropy and people of both ordinary and extraordinary means have a crucial part to play in averting calamity.

The global pandemic now stands to permanently alter the course of history. Even with all the recent gains, many still endure a persistent and perilous financial insecurity — ever perched on the brink — and are disproportionately affected by the slightest setback. For the last three years, hunger has been on the rise and the type of inequality that used to exist between nations now also exists within them. Each of us now are called to respond in the ways that we uniquely can for the sake of our individual and collective wellbeing — which we now know are inextricably intertwined.

Even as governments and multilateral institutions are mobilizing in response to the pandemic, and corporations strive to buffer the impact of the pandemic in various ways such as keeping employees on the payroll, philanthropy too has a meaningful part to play, even if its resources ultimately can’t match the public and private sectors’. Help is needed now — in our own communities and around the world. Individual donors and both corporate and private foundations are essential in addressing this sudden spike of urgent need.

Read the full article about philanthropists' role in pandemic response by Akhtar Badshah at Medium.