At its root philanthropy means, "Love of humanity.

" Our society values money above all else; time is money, a penny for your thoughts, if I had a dollar for every time I heard that... the list goes on with these clichs. It is because of the way we as society worship money that I feel there is no greater expression of love in America than the giving of our monetary gifts to a cause. I have always been one to believe that there is more behind a donor's check than dollars. By giving a donation to an organization, a donor is investing their hope in you. If the miserly type have no hope for the future (Sargeant & Shang, 2010), than those that bestow upon us their philanthropic gifts are stating that they believe something better is possible. When I stop and think of the multitude of problems that are facing our world, it can be more than a little overwhelming. Our climate is changing at an increasingly rapid rate, the American vocabulary is diminishing by almost 5,000 words every generation, in 36 states a person can be fired for his or her gender identity, 11 shelter dogs are put down every minute, one in four women will be raped or sexually assaulted in her lifetime, the rainforest is disappearing by ten thousand acres a year, and the Republicans still have control of the House of Representatives. To say that the world is anything but a terrifying place is an understatement, but this is why the nonprofit sector and philanthropy in America are so vital. The mere presents of a nonprofit in a community shows that a group of people believe that we can make the world something better than what it is. It also says that there is another group of people that believe in them enough to fund their work. Philanthropy is the act of defiantly hoping. Philanthropy not only enables one to express one's love for his or her community, but it enables her to make her community a better place simply through the act of writing a check.

References
Sargeant, A., & Shang, J. (2010). Fundraising Principles and Practices. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.