Towards the topic of philanthropy, I checked my blog only to find three posts under the heading, all from 2015. Thinking that in itself revealed a problem, I decided to comment on the topic in this post. In addition, I have enclosed a link to those past posts which I thoroughly enjoyed rereading today.
For those of you who were young adults in the 80's, Live Aid and Farm Aid, both which occurred in 1985, might be considered the apex of benefit concerts. The most renowned musical artists of the day performed at those two shows, and hundreds of millions of dollars were raised outright, in addition to the millions of dollars of food that was donated by various western nation governments and non government agencies to help alleviate starvation in Africa.
And while it is certainly true that these concerts were blockbusters, the concept began in 1971 when George Harrison lent his name for the Concert for Bangladesh. This event not only set the precedent for benefit concerts, but helped to inspire Bob Geldorf and Midge Ure's song "Do They Know It's Christmas" and then Geldorf's organization of the aforementioned "We Are the World" song and Live Aid extravaganza.
In addition to these more well known spectacles, there has also been the thirty plus year Secret Policemen's Ball shows which raised money for Amnesty International, the Concerts for the People of Kampuchea in 1979, the Freddy Mercury Tribute Concert for AIDS Awareness in 1992, the Tibetan Freedom Concert in 1996, and the Concert for New York City in 2001 after the horrific events of 9/11.
While I am sure there are benefits being held by entertainers now, I am struck by the thought that what is being done today seems to pale in comparison to the global awareness concerts which I detail above. It's not like there aren't crisis galore as we speak. The war in Ukraine is two years old, why hasn't there been a Concert for Ukraine in America yet? Is it just that one of the major party's presidential candidates prefers the invading nation over the invaded?
Or how about a benefit concert to raise money for both the victims of the Hamas attack into Israel last October as well as the humanitarian crisis that exists for the almost two million Palestinians as a result of the war in Gaza? Is it not possible for people to come together to mourn both the victims of the slaughter which initiated the war and the victims of the war itself? Is holding the idea in one's head that both acts were and are inhumane, not possible in our hyper partisan world?
And, perhaps it is too soon, or just that most people would rather forget, even though seven million people have died so far, but why wasn't there ever a concert for COVID? We lost over 1.2 million Americans to COVID, far more than any World War, more even than the loss of soldiers on both sides of the Civil War. Imagine that, the deadliest evedisaster in American history, and not only did it not bring us together to combat its spread and mourn our losses, it has driven us apart due to the politicization of the origin of the disease as well as the strategies (and vaccines) employed to limit the spread of the disease and reduce the deaths.
Is this one of the factors as to why benefit concerts, and more importantly, philanthropy and charity are in decline?
First, it is unclear if charitable giving is truly in decline, or if there has just been a temporary dip. When I googled "is charitable giving in decline?", I found evidence that from 2021 to 2022 there was a significant reduction in giving in America. While you may still deduct your donations if you itemize (rather than use the standard deduction) on your taxes, the doubling of the standard deduction that occurred in 2017 has drastically reduced the percentage of filers who can take advantage of this deduction.
Interestingly, in one of my 2015 posts, I posed the question of how much charitable giving might decrease if the tax deduction was removed. Again, there is not enough data to point the blame for the 2021-22 decline on this tax deduction change, as many economists point to the uncertain economic times as a bigger factor. Still, one might wonder if individual tax payers who no longer gain a tax advantage for charitable donations, in conjunction with the higher costs of living, might reduce their giving. I guess as the economy improves, more light will be shed on this topic.
I know that since our children left the nest, my wife and I have increased our charitable giving. Even now that we are both mostly retired (we each work part time, 12-20 hours a week), we have increased both the number and amount we give to charity. Perhaps, in the short term, charitable giving in America will actually increase despite the two reasons I list above, because baby boomers in the whole will have more disposable money than previous generations did. If that turns out to be true, it will at least bring from back a step or two from the cliff in my overall estimation of the baby boomer generation.
Philanthropy. Charity. Awareness that many others have less than oneself, and conversely, that many of us are very fortunate, privileged one might even say.
If we are indeed headed into a trend where people take to heart that often misinterpreted quote, charity begins at home, and America experiences a decline in everyday household charitable giving, will it simply be another indication that for all the talk about America being a Christian nation, we are all talk, no action?
Not to put too much pressure on such short term decisions, but if we continue to ignore the brutal invasion of Ukraine by Russia and fail to provide the Ukrainian people with the weapons and money they need to withstand the secession of their land and identity, while pretending that our weapons and monies aren't being used to slaughter women and children in Gaza, then we will be complicent, not only in two human tragedies, but in the surrendering of our "Christianity" to a much more powerful attribute and the exact opposite of charity; selfishness.
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