The ethics of entrepreneurial philanthropy

Charles Harvey; Jillian Gordon; Mairi Maclean

doi:10.1007/s10551-020-04468-7

The ethics of entrepreneurial philanthropy

Charles Harvey, Jillian Gordon, Mairi Maclean

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

A salient if under researched feature of the new age of global inequalities is the rise to prominence of entrepreneurial philanthropy, the pursuit of transformational social goals through philanthropic investment in projects animated by entrepreneurial principles. Super-wealthy entrepreneurs in this way extend their suzerainty from the domain of the economic to the domains of the social and political. We explore the ethics and ethical implications of entrepreneurial philanthropy through systematic comparison with what we call customary philanthropy, which preferences support for established institutions and social practices. We analyse the ethical statements made at interview by 24 elite UK philanthropists, 12 customary and 12 entrepreneurial, to reveal the coexistence of two ethically charged narratives of elite philanthropic motivations, each instrumental in maintaining the established socio-economic order. We conclude that entrepreneurial philanthropy, as an ostensibly efficacious instrument of social justice, is ethically flawed by its unremitting impulse toward ideological purity.

Original language	English
Number of pages	17
Journal	Journal of Business Ethics
Volume	171
Issue number	33-49
Early online date	2 Mar 2020
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-020-04468-7
Publication status	Published - 22 May 2021

Funding

The authors would like to thank the UK Economic and Social Research Council for funding their research on entrepreneurial philanthropy under the banner of the Centre for Charitable Giving and Philanthropy (Award No. RES-593-25-0008 ES/F034075/1). They would also like to thank the 24 philanthropists with whom they conducted extensive life-history interviews. We wish to thank editor Dr Scott Taylor and two anonymous reviewers for their guidance and inspiration in developing and improving this paper. The authors would like to thank the UK Economic and Social Research Council for funding their research on entrepreneurial philanthropy under the banner of the Centre for Charitable Giving and Philanthropy (Award No. RES-593-25-0008 ES/F034075/1). They would also like to thank the 24 philanthropists with whom they conducted extensive life-history interviews. We wish to thank editor Dr Scott Taylor and two anonymous reviewers for their guidance and inspiration in developing and improving this paper.

Keywords

Entrepreneurial philanthropy, ethics, inequality, neo-liberalism, philanthrocapitalism, rhetoric of motivations
Sustainability
Philanthropy

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Cite this

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The ethics of entrepreneurial philanthropy

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