|
(L-R)
Abigail Disney, Madeline L’Amour Holder & Anne
Delaney |
Women & Philanthropy
at Marymount
By Sybil Maimin
Marymount School, a
K-12 college-preparatory, independent, Catholic day school
for girls on the Upper East Side, takes seriously its mission
statement to “educate the heart
and the mind.” Students regularly hold bake sales and
other fund-raisers to benefit selected causes. The knitting
club makes hats and scarves for people in shelters. The girls
support research for breast cancer and the fight to
end violence against women, and they spontaneously and quickly
organized a very successful drive for money for tsunami victims.
It was, therefore, fitting that to celebrate Founders Day (the
school’s 79th birthday), parents and alumnae
were invited to a talk on “Philanthropy: Changing Lives,
Changing the World.” Three engaging speakers, members
of the New York Women’s Foundation, shared their stories
and passion about their journeys into the world of giving.
A fascinating and instructive
distinction was made between charity and philanthropy by
Abigail Disney, founder of the Daphne Foundation, a progressive
social change organization that makes grants to small community-based
groups. She explained that philanthropy is targeted, strategic
giving with well-thought out goals while charity is often
more spontaneous and emotion-based. “Charity
can be the enemy of philanthropy,” she cautioned, “by
siphoning off funds from the bigger picture.” There are
many charities and they receive large sums because of “a
natural inclination to respond to victims, especially if donors
identify with them.” Disney spoke of a “hierarchy
of innocence” that influences giving. An adult infected
with AIDS will receive less sympathy than an infant with the
same disease. After coming to New York from Los Angeles as
a student, Disney was “jarred by how visible and prevalent
poverty was…a radical disconnect from her life,” and
started doing volunteer work. As she became more involved she
switched from charity to philanthropy, determined to “place
gifts where they are most effective.” “You do not
have to have a trust fund to be privileged,” she advised. “If
you have safe drinking water and some people in the world don’t,
then you are privileged. Privilege
is a kind of poison if unexamined, and philanthropy is a cure.”
To Anne Delaney, an
artist who supports theater, dance, and art communities,
philanthropy is about values. “We tend
to speak in hushed tones about money,” she said. “Bring
it out of the closet and see how empowering it can be…not
just about what it can buy, but about the values it can advance.” As
a wealthy young woman, she realized the world was unfair and
she was determined to “help make it a better place.” There
are many philanthropic groups to choose from. She prefers social
change organizations because they “speak to her heart.
Find ones that speak to your heart,” she advised. “The
opportunity for direct participation to make things happen
is a great way to reclaim our democracy.”
Madeline L’Amour Holder was born in Haiti and came to
the United States nineteen years ago to escape political upheaval
in her country. Growing up, she was taught to help others and
has done volunteer work since her youth. Helping does not always
involve money, she explained. Affecting change in people’s
lives can take many forms. When she returned to Haiti in 1998
to bring humanitarian aid following Hurricane George, locals
told her they felt human to know someone cared. Offering a
listening ear is a form of giving. She has been involved with
Haitian women’s health and worked to end family and date
violence. “Join a philanthropic organization and help
them carry out their mission,” she advised. “Everyone
to whom I ever gave contributed more to my happiness than what
I could have given to them.”
Historically, women have not been involved in philanthropy.
When wealthy men died, their widows gave to causes associated
with their husbands. It was only in the second half of the
twentieth century that women began to act independently. Traditional
feelings of financial insecurity, even among the rich, are
slowly giving way to confidence in giving, especially as more
females have successful careers and recognize the important
role they can play. The talk on philanthropy was part of a
week-long program on financial literacy at Marymount that included
seminars, workshops, and lectures designed to empower students,
parents, alumnae, and staff with the information and tools
needed to make wise financial decisions. Headmistress
Concepcion Alvar explained, “We
hope to teach students about social justice, about being agents
of change, about using a life of privilege as a way to effect
change.”#
