Philanthropy for the Disenfranchised

ABSTRACT Philanthropy has an uneasy relationship with democracy. It distributes decision‐making power plutocratically, in proportion to wealth. It allows unelected, unaccountable, and often untrustworthy individuals to shape social outcomes. And it does so in domains where democracy should be authoritative. Yet, at the same time, philanthropy does much good, and hardly anyone would claim we should eliminate it altogether. So how can we make philanthropy consistent with democracy? In this article, I propose a new answer to this question. I argue that while democratic critics are right to worry about much current philanthropy, there is an important class of philanthropy that is not only highly beneficial, but that also, so far from undermining or conflicting with democracy, can complement or even enhance it. I call this “philanthropy for the disenfranchised,” and argue that we can resolve the tension between philanthropy and democracy by encouraging this sort of philanthropy while discouraging forms of philanthropic abuse and folly. I also outline a program for social reform that involves differentiating the institutions surrounding philanthropy to make them better perform this role, which I contrast with the more familiar programs of democratization and effective altruism.