March 23, 2000 | Read Time: 1 minute
Robin Hood Was Right: A Guide to Giving Your Money for Social Change
By Chuck Collins, Pam Rogers and Joan P. Garner
The authors of this book call on people to attack economic and social inequality with charitable donations.
“In our view, it’s time for a new focus on change, not charity, and we would like to see more giving dollars flowing in this direction,” they write.
Mr. Collins is co-director of United for a Fair Economy, in Boston; Ms. Rogers is a fund raiser at Haymarket People’s Fund, in Boston; and Ms. Garner is executive director of Southern Partners Fund, in Atlanta. This book is a sequel to an edition published 20 years ago by the Vanguard Public Foundation, a San Francisco grant maker that focuses on poverty.
The authors write that donors should keep the greater good in mind even though it often means giving up control over how a gift is spent. For example, they say, instead of financing a scholarship for one student to attend college, a donor should consider supporting a student association that fights to make higher education more affordable.
Chapters provide tips on freeing up personal assets, choosing a financial adviser, and identifying non-profit organizations with proven track records in combatting social ills.
Throughout the book the authors profile several foundations and charities working for progressive causes. Appendixes provide contact information for approximately 200 such groups.
Small pieces of text, such as quotations from donors who gave to social-change organizations, decorate the book’s margins.
Page 86 has Robin Hood’s Rule: Never confuse net worth with self-worth.
Publisher: W. W. Norton and Company, 500 Fifth Avenue, New York 10110; (212) 354-5500; fax (212) 869-0856; http://www.wwnorton.com; 224 pages; $27.95; I.S.B.N. 0-393-04827-6.
