A German Perspective on Philanthropy
February 5, 2011 2 Comments
I came across this article by chance while looking for information on Chinese billionaires.It is from Der Spiegel.I was struck by the point made by Peter Kramer.Thought I’d put up the article here.What do you think about this point of view?Do write me your comments.I would love to hear them.
08/10/2010
Negative Reaction to Charity Campaign
German Millionaires Criticize Gates’ ‘Giving Pledge’
Last week, Microsoft founder Bill Gates attempted to convince billionaires around the world to agree to give away half their money to charity. But in Germany, the “Giving Pledge,” backed by 40 of the world’s wealthiest people, including Gates and Warren Buffet, has met with skepticism, SPIEGEL has learned.
“For most people that is too ostentatious,” said the asset manager of one of the billionaires contacted by Gates, adding that many of the of the people contacted had already transferred larger proportions of their assets than the Americans to charitable foundations.
Dietmar Hopp, the co-founder of the SAP business software company, has transferred some €2.9 billion to a foundation. Klaus Tschira, another founder of SAP, has handed more than half his wealth to a foundation.
Peter Krämer, a Hamburg-based shipping magnate and multimillionaire, has emerged as one of the strongest critics of the “Giving Pledge.” Krämer, who donated millions of euros in 2005 to “Schools for Africa,” a program operated by UNICEF, explained his opposition to the Gates initiative in a SPIEGEL interview.
SPIEGEL: Forty super wealthy Americans have just announced that they would donate half of their assets, at the very latest after their deaths. As a person who often likes to say that rich people should be asked to contribute more to society, what were your first thoughts?
Krämer: I find the US initiative highly problematic. You can write donations off in your taxes to a large degree in the USA. So the rich make a choice: Would I rather donate or pay taxes? The donors are taking the place of the state. That’s unacceptable.
SPIEGEL: But doesn’t the money that is donated serve the common good?
Krämer: It is all just a bad transfer of power from the state to billionaires. So it’s not the state that determines what is good for the people, but rather the rich want to decide. That’s a development that I find really bad. What legitimacy do these people have to decide where massive sums of money will flow?
SPIEGEL: It is their money at the end of the day.
Krämer: In this case, 40 superwealthy people want to decide what their money will be used for. That runs counter to the democratically legitimate state. In the end the billionaires are indulging in hobbies that might be in the common good, but are very personal.
SPIEGEL: Do the donations also have to do with the fact that the idea of state and society is such different one in the United States?
Krämer: Yes, one cannot forget that the US has a desolate social system and that alone is reason enough that donations are already a part of everyday life there. But it would have been a greater deed on the part of Mr. Gates or Mr. Buffet if they had given the money to small communities in the US so that they can fulfil public duties.
SPIEGEL: Should wealthy Germans also give up some of their money?
Krämer: No, not in this form. It would make more sense, for example, to work with and donate to established organizations.
About Keerthika Singaravel
wealthymatters 
Right off the bat the first thought I have is of the group of people my dad is getting together to form an organization to help children who are unfortunately affected by the due process of law.So the parents are either victims of crime and so no longer able to care for these children or they are children of parents who have been convicted for a crime and have been sentenced to serve a jail term.
My dad is a retired police officer and served as Inspector General of Prisons.The motivation is an incident from his early years in the police. A murder had taken place in a village under his jurisdiction and he happened to visit the site of the incident with the local police.An intoxicated weaver and his wife had had a violent quarrel and in the heat of the moment he doused her in kerosene and set her on fire.The wife died a painful death.The couple had 2 small children who happened to witness the whole incident.The husband was to be arrested and taken away.That’s when my dad noticed the 2 crying children.When he asked the local police what provision had been made for the care of the children,he was told that a maternal aunt would take them in and raise them up with her own children.Many others have it worse.Here is a link to more on the matter http://www.lawisgreek.com/children-of-women-prisoners-conditions-in-jail/
The organization is envisaged as one which will preferrably try to accomodate such children in their own extended families and communities.As many of these families are extremely poor, providing for the material means to raise these children becomes important.There are government grants for the purpose.So this organization is to ensure money reaches on time and is actually put to the stated use.There is to be a system in place to track the development and well being of these children.The real challenge is to humanize the whole process and minimise the impact of the trauma such children have suffered.
I don’t know if this sort of thing is of interest to you…….maybe you could get a group of people to take an interest in such children,maybe send them some birthday greetings,write letters…..just do the little things to make a child feel special?
I am big on helping those who need it, if you know of a family that could use some extra love let us know!