The New Philanthropy

Posted by on October 01, 2006

What IS a nonprofit? What IS philanthropy? And, whatever these terms mean, who should NOT pay taxes?

Those questions are raised by Dr. Susan Raymond writing in On Philanthropy in response to the creation of Google.org as a for-profit philanthropy.

"Google.org will be a ?foundation? that will invest in (and expect to make a return on) social problems. It fully expects to pay taxes, and asks no forgiveness from the American taxpayer. First up will be ultra fuel efficient plug-in automobiles.

"But wait," she write. "There is actually a market for automobiles. There is also a market for clean technology for automobiles. How is Google.org a philanthropy? How is General Motors not a philanthropy? Making matters worse, GM is NOT making money and Google.org will (or it assumes it will). So, is GM a ?nonprofit? and Google.org not?"

The questions are worth exploring. Read more at http://www.onphilanthropy.com/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=6731