Others worry that Gates’s programs ignore access-to-care issues in rural areas. Sophie Harman, a senior lecturer in global health at City University London, has said that “without proper funding commitments to health infrastructure . . . any investment in vaccines will be redundant.”
Critics have also raised concerns about the Gates Foundation’s promotion of genetically modified crops to address food shortages in Africa and Asia. The complicating factor comes from a key element of this kind of giving: the blending of philanthropy and profit. The Gates Foundation has invested in Monsanto, an agriculture company that develops genetically modified seeds as well as specialized chemicals for those crops. The worthy goal of sustainable agriculture may be mixing with corporate interests.
The way to balance the great power of philanthrocapitalism is not to stop innovations in the scope of charitable giving. Instead, we need to build new institutions of banking, taxation, science and civic participation that support this new philanthropy without giving it unfettered power. Some fledgling efforts in this direction include the new White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation, emerging legal frameworks for “purpose-driven” businesses and other for-profit/nonprofit hybrids, the development of nonprofit “equity” markets and “social capital,” and even proposals for a nonprofit stock market. People who study and work in philanthropy are exploring ways to make these enormous and important gifts more transparent — and ways to incorporate citizen participation in these initiatives.
The enormous resources that the Gateses, Buffetts and Zuckerbergs of the world are devoting to their chosen causes are crucially important. They are filling gaping holes in some of the world’s neediest areas, holes that will only grow as government budgets shrink. We depend on this largesse. But there is a risk that a growing dependence can make us reluctant to critically review such generosity.
Billionaire philanthropy is powerful. It goes beyond quaint notions of “doing good.” But it is clear that we need checks and balances on this power. That’s the only way to stop good intentions from turning the United States — and the world — into a plutocracy.
Robin Rogers is an associate professor of sociology at Queens College and the Graduate Center at the City University of New York. She is working on a book about philanthropic policymaking.
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