Philanthropy – When Did It Become About Fundraising?
In the beginning there was a need and someone met it using their own time and resources. Then the need grew and became too much for one person, so they enlisted the time and resources of others. Out of all this activity was born a mission which served as the foundation for an organization to manage all of the time and resources. And so was born philanthropy.
At some point it was decided a person needed to spend all of their time asking more people for more and more of their time and resources. And so the fundraiser was born. It was also when philanthropy began a long slow march away from its mission.
Merriam-Webster defines philanthropy as:
1: goodwill to fellow members of the human race; especially:active effort to promote human welfare
2 a : an act or gift done or made for humanitarian purposes
  b : an organization distributing or supported by funds set aside for humanitarian purposes
Notice there is no mention of fundraising. It is about giving, not...