I often ask myself the question, “What can we learn from other cultures of philanthropy that can inform the way we give today?” It’s a question borne out of curiosity about the way that philanthropy is practiced in different cultures and across different times in history, and it’s also rooted in the experience of living abroad and working in philanthropy in China for a time in my 20s and 30s, where I often heard the refrain “China has no cultural heritage of giving,” even from local experts. I think what these experts meant was that they didn’t see Chinese philanthropists following the specifically modern and Western forms of philanthropy. And yet examples of radical generosity and mutual support abounded all around me in those years, we just weren’t aware that those count as philanthropy, too. 

I recently finished reading Tyrone McKinley Freeman’s excellent book, “Madam C.J. Walker’s Gospel of Giving: Black Women’s Philanthropy During Jim Crow,” which I highly recommend. In the book, Freeman describes in loving detail the life and times of a remarkable entrepreneur, mother, washerwoman, activist, philanthropist, “race woman,” and church lady, Madam C.J. Walker. Freeman is an associate professor of philanthropic studies at the Lilly School of Philanthropy and, borne out of his own experiences growing up himself in a rich Black church tradition as well as his academic expertise, Freeman describes the history, context, and influences on the woman who became America’s first female self-made millionaire with the loving care of a family member combined with the careful detail of a scholar.  

I can’t do justice to the richness of all that Freeman covers, but will share some key takeaways that I have gathered from the book for my own giving and ways I think philanthropists today can and should learn from Madam Walker’s example: 

  1. She didn’t wait to give.
  2. She couldn’t do it alone. She learned and grew as an entrepreneur, activist, and philanthropist in a thick and interdependent community.
  3. Finally, she did not compartmentalize her work, her giving, her faith, or her activism.

Read the full article about Madam C.J. Walker’s lessons for giving by Grace Nicolette at The Center for Effective Philanthropy.