The Everyday Philanthropist: A Better Way to Make A Better World

By Dan Pallotta

Discover new ways to make charity a central part of your everyday life

In The Everyday Philanthropist: A Better Way to Make a Better World, dedicated fundraiser and social impact veteran Dan Pallotta delivers an insightful and inspirational treatment of giving, charity, impact, overhead ratios, and philanthropy for people of all ages and abilities. This breakthrough exploration of charity and activism brings home the message that philanthropy is for everyone – from wealthy benefactors to high school activists and families who want their lives to impact their communities.

In the book, you’ll find:

• New ideas about turning giving into a daily activity and a lifestyle focused on making a difference
• 32 digestible and easy-to-understand micro-chapters – complete with clear and helpful graphics – on critical aspects of everyday philanthropy
• Comprehensive and actionable info designed to make this book your pocket guide to giving

An essential and engaging new way of thinking about charity, philanthropy, and giving, The Everyday Philanthropist is a must-read guide for activists, fundraisers, nonprofit managers and board members, and other social impact professionals and volunteers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wiley
• Release date: May 3, 2023
• ISBN: 9781394190522

Book preview

Part One

The Good Citizen: Philanthropy and You

CHAPTER 1

Why Charity?

When we think about change, we think about politics, especially now. When people like former President Obama talk about creating the next generation of change‐makers, they often point to politics, and create new grassroots training programs to help train and interest young people in running for elected office.

When we think of our civic duty, we think about voting or getting involved in a political campaign. We think of politics as the vehicle for change, and charity as a vehicle for being kind and generous.

This is a mistake.

Charity and the nonprofit sector are powerful vehicles for creating big change too, and sometimes even more quickly than politics can create change. And they are vehicles the average citizen can use. They are critical options for civic engagement and for any citizen interested in making a better world.

There are many examples of this:

No Kid Hungry is actively ending child hunger in America by revolutionizing school breakfast and lunch programs.

FoodCorps is transforming the nutritional value of those programs.

Sightsavers is ending trachoma—one of the world's most ancient and painful diseases.

Last Mile Health is revolutionizing basic medical services for the poor in the developing world.

The Environmental Defense Fund is launching a satellite that can detect methane leaks at very high resolution. Methane's greenhouse gas effect is 84 times more potent than carbon's. This satellite will help reduce global methane emissions 45% by 2025, delivering the same 20‐year climate benefit as closing a third of the world's coal‐fired power plants.

One Acre Fund provides products and services to farmers in developing countries that substantially increase their profits and boost them out of poverty.

These changes are real. They're happening now. There are many other examples. And they're happening because average citizens are providing financial support to this work.

In fact, the average citizen would be hard‐pressed to find an opportunity in politics to make more of a difference than they could by supporting some of the world's most innovative and entrepreneurial charities.

If you're interested in a holistic definition of what it means to be a good citizen, and in how to create powerful change as an individual, understanding how to give to and evaluate a charitable organization correctly is critical.

CHAPTER 2

Why Giving?

Volunteering your time is satisfying and helpful and you should do it. It's good for the soul. And face‐to‐face interaction with charities and those they serve is incredibly fulfilling on both sides of the human equation. Donating clothing and furniture that you no longer use is wonderful.

But we're not going to change the world with volunteers and donated coats and couches. This is not how Apple, Facebook, and Tesla are changing things. What charities like the ones I mentioned previously really need is your financial support. They need many more people giving so they can expand the delivery of their powerful services to the millions of people waiting for them. They need a much stronger civil society from which to draw the financial fuel on which their growth depends, the same way Apple needs a thriving economy and a citizenry indoctrinated in the functions and benefits of their products to keep growing by leaps and