Imagine a pyramid, after Maslow. Lower needs at the bottom, then social needs, then at the top not virtue, wisdom, duty, humility, or sacrifice to a higher power but of course this being America - Self Actualization. Now, where does philanthropy fit? At the top, of course. What the pyramid, as used in financial services training says to us, is that philanthropy is a luxury, to be engaged in after lower needs are met. You find philanthropy stories in magazines featuring the rich and famous. Interspersed with the stories of giving are those of getting, strutting at galas, and consuming. A Rolex watch, a Lear Jet, a Yacht, a Trophy Wife, a hug from a Hollywood Princess, and Philanthropy. In these times, though, there is less money in that pyramid, and the base is broad. The base is broad because needs expand. What had been a luxury to a poorer person becomes a necessity when it has been tasted twice. So needs grow, not entirely by chance. Marketers, amidst the philanthropic stories, entice: The Rolex looks good. The Lear jet is better than the one we have. The Yatch is necessary too, given our standing in society. So, when money is tight, and the pryamid not as full at it might have been, or once was, philanthropy as the luxury of luxuries may have to be scaled back to make way for the baser "needs."
From that world of wealth I know a fugitive, self-exiled, one who gave away her inheritance and makes a modest living promoting giving. She writes me, speaking of how hard it is to raise money these days, and how hard it is for her to keep her own nonprofit going. She signs off as follows, as if speaking to herself, or to a parent in heaven: "Service first."
That is not what Maslow said. He said Self's Hungry Belly First, Then Self's Hunger for Sex, then Self's Hunger for Love, then Self's Hunger for Status, then Self Actualized. My friend is from an old school in which the Maslow picture would have been called, "Self Indulgent."
