Opinion: TV Series Makes Giving Seem a Rich Man’s Game

Writing in The Huffington Post, a nonprofit executive takes the NBC series “The Philanthropist” to task for portraying giving as the province of the rich.

Deborah Richardson, chief program officer for the Women’s Funding Network, says the show, about a rich, philandering businessman who uses his wealth to right wrongs around the world, “sends a message to viewers that you can only make an impact if you have so much money you stopped counting it long ago.”

“Real philanthropy is a two-way exchange, not one-way or top-down,” Ms. Richardson writes. “The show does not portray transformative philanthropy that changes the causes of problems instead of just doling out money for a quick fix of the symptom.”

Read an alternative view of The Philanthropist in The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

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