Evolving Donation Culture

America is a country of donation. A few days ago, my third grade son brought home a parents’ association letter that asked for $20 for a Christmas present for the teacher.

American schools have been asking for donations more frequently as the budget for education has decreased since the financial crisis. There are a variety of causes you can donate to, including canned food for less fortunate neighbors, books for libraries, replacing school infrastructure and helping children with incurable diseases. For a foreigner like me, some of the options even seem a bit strange. But almost all parents and students see them as ordinary.

Annual individual and corporate donations reach $300 billion in the U.S., which is more than half of South Korea’s total export worth of $5.5 billion. The foundation of America’s giving culture is entrepreneurs. American entrepreneurs who put together a fortune during the industrialization of the 19th and 20th centuries started this tradition by returning the wealth to society. They are the founders of America’s three major public welfare foundations, which include the Carnegie Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Ford Foundation.

Modern entrepreneurs who amassed fortunes in Silicon Valley and Wall Street are transcending time and are continuing the donation and charity culture. Today, they are even expanding their charity work to areas that were traditionally considered to be the government’s job.

The founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates, is the world’s most famous philanthropist, and he has already put in over $13 billion towards works in the public health sector worldwide. Howard Shultz of Starbucks is pushing ahead plans for job training programs for the unemployed and loan programs for entrepreneurs with little capital by utilizing the company’s foundation and its customers’ donations. Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, donated $100 million to improve education in Newark, New Jersey. Hedge fund financier George Soros is actively advocating for freedom of the press and the spread of democracy through the Open Society Foundations.

As societal polarization accelerates, mistrust against corporations and big business is deepening as shown by the “Occupy Wall Street Movement.” It is true that many corporations are blinded by profits.

However, as long as the tradition of giving back wealth to society is alive, the culture of respect for those who created their wealth justly will not be shaken. “Noblesse oblige” is the major bedrock of American capitalism.