Opinion: Take Care When ‘Philanthro-Shaming’ the Wealthy

A philanthropy expert assesses the growing trend of critiquing the very rich based on the level of their giving relative to their net worth in an online Washington Post column.

Benjamin Soskis, a fellow at George Mason University’s Center for the Study of Nonprofit Management, Philanthropy and Policy, discusses a labor-backed activist group’s recent report on the Walmart heirs’ contributions to the Walton Family Foundation and appeals by Marc Benioff, the founder of Salesforce.com founder, urging fellow Silicon Valley billionaires to give more generously.

Mr. Soskis says such “philanthro-shaming” can be “a useful tool for shining a light on the giving priorities” of wealthy Americans. But he cautions that although the approach seems to demand more of the super-rich, “it threatens to demand too little,” he cautions. “It frames the responsibilities of wealth as a matter of bookkeeping. … [P]hilanthropic accountability is more than balance sheets; its imperatives are not satisfied merely by knowing how much billionaires give but in scrutinizing the objects of that largesse.”