The History of American Giving

As our country continues to celebrate its 250th birthday, it is worth remembering that generosity was woven into the American experiment from the start.

The word philanthropy means love of humanity. For the Founding generation this love became a growing sense of civic duty and generosity.

Independence did more than create a new government; it changed how Americans related to each other. Before the Revolution, most people directed their charity narrowly: to their own town, church, or community. The revolutionary idea that ordinary people had a right to shape their own destiny made it natural to extend that care more broadly to strangers and to humanity at large.

The same names we associate with independence played important parts in this evolution. John Hancock signed the Declaration and, about a decade later, joined with Paul Revere and others to help found a society devoted to rescuing drowning strangers. Benjamin Franklin launched the Pennsylvania Hospital with a blend of public and private funding that nonprofits still use today. George Washington was the leading donor of his era, giving in ways large and small to individuals and institutions without seeking attention or credit.

A half-century later, a thoughtful Frenchman named Alexis de Tocqueville came to see the young country for himself, traveling through it in 1831 and 1832. What struck him was the American habit of association.

When a social problem arose, Toqueville observed that the French would look to the government for help and the English would seek support from a person of rank, status, and wealth. Americans, in contrast, would form a group themselves to build a church, to establish a hospital, to found a school, or to advance nearly any cause one could imagine. He saw that this bottom-up, voluntary spirit was essential to American democracy itself.

Tocqueville understood the motives behind this behavior. Americans, he wrote, liked to explain their good deeds as self-interest “rightly understood.” He watched them make real sacrifices for one another. Then, through repetition and social reinforcement, the instinct of serving became a habit.

This collective habit of generosity built what we now call “civil society:” the network of nonprofits, volunteer organizations, and community groups that form the backbone of American life. It is easy to take for granted, but local efforts in areas as broad as sports, arts, and conservation connect us in ways that neither government nor business can. Government provides a social framework and business provides resources and capabilities. Meanwhile, civil society is our binding agent, drawing us together around shared causes and concerns.

I feel this personally. Civil society produced the hospital where I was born, the schools that shaped me, and many organizations that have been central to my life. Each was founded by people who dedicated their time, talent, and treasure to the benefit of strangers they would never meet, including me. Where else do the voluntary acts of people decades or even centuries ago still reach us so directly in the present? Generosity is a thread that ties each generation to the ones before and after.

That thread runs unbroken in our own time. David Rubenstein, who I had the pleasure of interviewing for WISEgenerosity, has given vast amounts to support the preservation of our nation’s history and heritage. He calls this “patriotic philanthropy” — from restoring the Washington Monument to placing Founding documents on public display. He further believes that all charity and philanthropy are patriotic because all good giving helps to build a strong society for the benefit of everyone in it — including ourselves.

Generosity is not a modern invention or a luxury of the wealthy. It is both part of our American heritage and available to every one of us here and now.

Along the same lines, the frameworks offered through WISEgenerosity are intended to help people give ways that truly are W.I.S.E.: Well-grounded, Inspired, Satisfying, and Effective. Looking ahead to the next 250 years, let’s take up our generous inheritance and each add to it.

All the best,

Chris Gabriel,
Founder, WISEgenerosity