United Way and Salesforce try mending the social fabric
Like everything else in America, how we think about philanthropy is changing thanks to economic and social evolution. As Brian Gallagher, President and CEO of United Way, the world’s largest privately-funded nonprofit philanthropic entity sees it, “Over the last 10 years, charitable giving in the United States — the total amount of money being given, and it’s now over 400 billion [per year] — has been driven by wealthy individuals. The actual number of people, individuals, giving to charity in the United States has been going down for a decade.” Gallagher should know too, United Way serves 61 million people each year and has over 34,000 funded community partners and it also has 60,000 corporate partners world wide.
The generations that grew up with technology have their own take on giving and social involvement so a couple of years ago, United Way began developing a relationship with tech giant Salesforce in an effort to leverage technology as it serves so many people. In the process they’ve developed ways that make philanthropy more meaningful to younger geneations and this process is creating new approaches to philanthropy.
Losing the middle
So, what’s interesting today is that the concentration of wealth in the United States is being followed by a concentration of philanthropy and…
