Klein and Roth Consulting

Chuck Collins & his co-authors are our go-to people for understanding the serious problem of inequality including what it has meant for philanthropy, and with this new newsletter, what we can do about it.

Say Hello to The Charity Reformer - Inequality.org The first edition of a new Inequality.org newsletter focused on transforming philanthropy for our common good.

Great article by our friend & colleague, Rebecca Gordon, about the problem with thinking that tax incentives for giving really benefit most taxpayers, and also how the growth of the nonprofit (501c3) "industry" and the foundations that support it, have moved many social movements away from their core goals of serious social change.

Do Charitable Write-Offs Pay Off? The nonprofit-industrial complex would have you believe they do.

Nauseating, mind-blowing and interesting in equal measure. Most money given to 'charity' is now being given to be managed for investment and not doing anything to really improve the world.

Top-Heavy Philanthropy Explained in 8 Charts - Inequality.org Top facts & charts on how the concentration of wealth is warping the giving sector, as the rich use it to lower taxes & protect themselves.

Maimonides, a 12th century Jewish scholar, invented the following ladder of giving. Well worth reading at this time of year.
Each rung up represents a higher degree of virtue:

1. The lowest: Giving begrudgingly and making the recipient feel disgraced or embarrassed.

2. Giving cheerfully but giving too little.

3. Giving cheerfully and adequately but only after being asked.

4. Giving before being asked.

5. Giving when you do not know who is the individual benefiting, but the recipient knows your identity.

6. Giving when you know who is the individual benefiting, but the recipient does not know your identity.

7. Giving when neither the donor nor the recipient is aware of the other's identity.

8. The Highest: Giving money, a loan, your time or whatever else it takes to enable an individual to be self-reliant.