The Essence of True Charity

The Wall Street Journal’s Wealth Report writes,

The 50 top philanthropists last year gave away a total of $10.4 billion – up by more than three-fold from 2010. The Chronicle of Philanthropy says that 29 people gave away more than $50 million each in 2011.

The strange thing is, you’ve probably never heard of most of them…

But what’s striking about the pantheon of top American givers is how little we know about any of them. They’re not in the news for buying giant homes, yachts or planes. They’re not funding Super-PACSs or spouting off about how they would run the country. And they don’t have reality shows.

The top rich givers are quiet, small-town patriarchs who made their riches in unglamorous industries like steel, natural gas and metal frames. They carry their wealth quietly and they honor the responsibilities that come with great wealth. They care about creating opportunities for others, not just for themselves.

My comment:

Real charity is about anonymity. So has it been written in the Bible (Matthews 6:2 New International Edition)

So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.

And importantly, true charity emanates in the absence of coercion

As libertarian economist Floyd Arthur Harper wrote,

True economic charity has three characteristics:

1. Charity requires the transfer of ownership from one person to another of something having economic worth. The receiver must get a clear title to it, or it cannot be charity. The giver must have had clear title to it, or the giving is like a gift of stolen property — which is not an act of charity. Private ownership at both ends of the transfer, never public ownership, is therefore required.
2. The transfer must be voluntary with both parties. If forced upon the receiver against his will, it is not charity. If taken from the source against the prior owner's will, it is theft rather than an act of charity.
3. True charity requires anonymity. This is difficult to attain, to be sure. But if the conditions of the transfer result in a personal obligation in any form or degree, it is a grant of credit and not an act of charity. Devices other than anonymity usually fail to prevent the creation of a personal obligation.

May the tribe of genuine philanthropists increase!