human welfare and advancement, usually manifested by donations of money,property, or work to needy persons, by endowment of institutions of learning and hospitals, and by generosity to other socially useful purposes.
This can be an intimidating definition. In order to explain it better, we have broken it down into two categories; giving and volunteering.
The definition that dictionary.com provide seems to be clear cut; the problem is that philanthropy covers so many areas, that one sentence is not enough. There are many aspects to philanthropy. One of the two categories mentioned above is giving. Giving in itself holds different meanings. Are you the one giving? Are you the one receiving? Does the giver have good intent? All of these questions are standards that philanthropists ask.
We also mentioned volunteering. In a way, volunteering can fall under giving as your are giving time, but volunteering allows the giver to have a closer connection to those receiving. And again, those questions are asked; what was the volunteer's intent? were they looking to look good?
The bottom line is that philanthropy has not true definition. Defining philanthropy is like defining beauty; it is in the eye of the beholder. So give it a shot; what does philanthropy mean to YOU?
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