Thread by @Rhodri_H_Davies

Further to my earlier musings on the Bezos announcement, been thinking about the criteria on which philanthropy is judged.

In particular, the qn: “what would a universally lauded e.g. of philanthropy look like?”

So, please bear with a small thread. 1/

I’ve been toying for a while with an idea for trying to tie together various strands of current critiques & possible responses etc into a coherent policy narrative/prescription for philanthropy in C21st & this has helped crystallize it a bit.

I think.

Maybe. 2/

I’m gonna write this up properly at some point, but in the interests of work-shopping new material/forging ideas in the crucible of public opinion (and potentially brutal snark), here’s the rough outline: 3/

It’s 6 criteria, based on the acronym RECODE, cos:

a) That implies change, but w/ continuity

b) It sounds tech-related (and thus zeitgeisty)

c) I used to work in a think tank, so I love acronyms 4/

I’m not suggesting any one example of philanthropy needs to meet all 6 criteria (and some may actually be contradictory anyway), but in the unlikely event that I had lots of money to give away these are (at least some of) the things I’d be thinking about.

So you've got… 5/

(R)isk-taking?

Is the philanthropy sufficiently bold? Does it go beyond what state/market could do (i.e. is it additional)? Is it justifiable on ground of discovery/innovation? 6/

(E)nough?

Is the scale of the philanthropy sufficient relative to the scale of the problem and/or to the scale of the resources available? 7/

(C)ontextualised?

How does this giving sit within the wider context of how the wealth in question was made, whether or not sufficient tax has been paid, or any ethical concerns about the donor or their line of business etc? 8/

(O)pen?

How transparent is the approach? Is the vehicle opaque or open? Is there info on sources of funding & recipients? 9/

(D)emocratic?

Does the scale/nature of the giving give cause for concerns about effect on wider democracy?

Is the approach taken to philanthropy itself democratic (I.e. by fostering participation or wider base of support for issue)? 10/

(E)nvironmental?

Does the philanthropy acknowledge the urgency and importance of climate issues- either in its direct focus or in the way it operates, invests etc? 11/

As you can see, Bezos's announcement (or what detail we can glean from it) does well on some criteria but much less well on others.

And the same will probably be true for other big donors, and will dictate the focus of criticism they will receive 12/

So there you go: RECODE philanthropy.

Still just the bare bones of an idea (and maybe a bit too contrived tbh), but it seemed worth trying to pull all this recurring & slightly disparate stuff together somehow (and acronyms are a good substitute for actual answers).13/

If anyone has thoughts (e.g. letters missing from the acronym, it's fundamentally flawed etc) would love to hear them.

Fin/