PHILANTHROPY’S BIG MOMENT
THIS IS PHILANTHROPY’S SHINING moment. The pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 is exactly the kind of challenge for which philanthropy is ideally suited, and philanthropists realize it. They’re stepping up big time.
According to , which tracks mostly U.S. foundations, the donations so far for Covid-19 response total almost $7 billion as of mid-April. Google alone is giving almost a billion dollars. Jeff Bezos, Oprah, Leonardo DiCaprio and Laurene Powell Jobs are supporting food banks. Bezos’ $100 million dollar gift to Feeding America is the largest in the organization’s history. Through their foundation, hedge fund billionaires Ray and Barbara Dalio are buying 60,000 laptops for needy students so they can participate in distance learning. They’ve also given $4 million to pay for childcare services for hospital workers. Jack Dorsey, founder of Twitter and Square, is giving a billion dollars, almost a third of his fortune. And Bill Gates, who first sounded the alarm about the dangers of the virus in, is spending “billions” funding vaccine research through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. At the next level down, according to Brian A. Gallagher, president and CEO of United Way Worldwide, “We’ve raised $382 million in response to Covid.” Those examples don’t include the checks being written by everyday Americans to food banks and community chests. According to Thad Rosenfeld of Meals on Wheels of Central Texas, they’ve seen a surge in the number of volunteer applications.
