Abstract
The paper draws on intensive interviews with 130 millionaires to explore the case for and against anonymous giving, to indicate a number of key findings about anonymous giving among the wealthy, and to describe the potential of anonymous giving to raise both the level of careand control in philanthropic relationships. The first two sections of the paper set out the case for and against anonymous giving, emphasising the instrumental and moral rationale by which the wealthy frame both sides of the issue. The third section discusses the tendencies inherent in anonymous giving toward enhancing moral stewardship and manipulation. In the conclusion, I discuss some conceptual distinctions derived from the analysis and speculate about the value of encouraging the non-wealthy to consider at least some measure of anonymous giving.
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A number of the ideas contained in this paper were first presented in Schervish (1991).
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Schervish, P.G. The sound of one hand clapping: the case for and against anonymous giving. Voluntas 5, 1–26 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02353950
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02353950