Anonymous Giving Is on the Rise

March 31, 2008

Anonymous Giving Is on the Rise

Wealthy philanthropists are increasingly choosing to give their charitable donations anonymously, in part to protect their privacy but also to avoid rifts among family members expecting an inheritance, reports the Los Angeles Times.

The decision among the wealthy to keep their donations secret sometimes disappoints recipient organizations that are eager for publicity.

“A couple of decades ago, charities were pushing donors to be identified, telling them they needed to be known to help the cause they were interested in,” said Dwight Burlingame, associate executive director of Indiana University’s Center on Philanthropy. “Now the pendulum is swinging the opposite way.”

But while some wealthy donors decide to give anonymously to head off publicity or keep family members in the dark about how much money they actually have, others fear their philanthropy could make them targets of crime.

Last year, the La Jolla, Calif., billionaire Ernest Rady, his wife, and their housekeeper were attacked in their home with a stun gun in a home-invasion robbery. The family has contributed $60-million to what became Rady Children’s Hospital and $30-million to the Rady School of Management at the University of California at San Diego.

(See an article from The Chronicle about the rise in anonymous giving.)

Comments

I also imagine many of these major donors give anonymously to ensure that their name doesn’t climb to the top of every similar charity’s donor prospect list.

— Emily Mar 31, 05:39 PM #
Maybe some donors are really interested in being philanthropists and have taken the notion of charity they learned in Sunday School to heart?

Our richest religious traditions don’t give high marks to givers who want to be known for their giving. Besides, isn’t the gift supposed to be about the cause?

— David Zemel Mar 31, 08:32 PM #
I think a lot of charities have the wrong attitude. They get to do all the rewarding work while expecting others to pay for it and do nothing to earn money for their own cause (like the Girl Scouts do when they sell their cookies). Sometimes the only thing you hear from them after you donate is how much more they need. Often there are requests to donate on a regular basis at an amount that’s mostly wishful thinking on their part. When I donate, I think of it as a gift, not as a bill that I will have to add to my budget every month. That is why donating anonymously is looking attractive, and it’s not just rich people who feel this way!

— A.H. Apr 23, 12:42 PM #

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