In response to a survey on charitable trend-watching by Charles Maclean at Philanthropy Now: 1. Trend(s) I watch: a) The take over of philanthropy by political operatives for partisan ends masquerading as public goods. (Heritage? Bradley? Hudson? AEI? Soros? Moveon? Heartland?) b) The gradual sickening of the public to pervasive ideological abuses of not only giving, but reason, civic life, and the human spirit. c) The reemergence of progressive grassroots giving and movement building as a counter-thrust to market idolatry, politcal propaganda, war hysteria, and authoritarian religious movements. Similar "awakenings" among libertarians and social conservatives, not all of it driven from above. d) The finding of common ground among givers of all sorts, as they converse once again the public square, beyond soundbites and slogans. e) The reinstitution of the public pillory for pundits and think tank thinkers. Considered shameful to consort with same. f) Pundits reform and become poets and professors of the liberal arts (the arts of freedom) and are gradually reintegrated with humankind. g) Civil society returned to citizens as the "citizen sector." 2. Future of Giving: A third sector, an independent sector, not business-driven, not government-driven, not driven by marketing from above, but driven by caritas, volunteering, and giftedness, up from the bottom and from side to side. A public sector driven by love as much as money, with its own dynamic. An offset to pervasive materialism, in the name of God and country, or whatever else. A blessed relief, a haven, and a respite from a money mad society in which the miracle of the pricing mechanism has replaced the holy spirit, and sophistry goes proxy for reason. Out of that ferment comes the future that flows through us from our rich heritage of democracy, bursting the bonds of top down control, opening closed minds, and softening hearts made hard by market logic. The future of giving is the future of life.
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