NPR

Generous Giving Or Phony Philanthropy? A Critique Of Well-Meaning 'Winners'

Anand Giridharadas spent time with tech entrepreneurs and affluent elites who want to change the world. But in a new book, he writes that their market-based mantras only maintain inequalities.
President of the Ford Foundation Darren Walker, co-founder of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Priscilla Chan, and president of the Goldman Sachs Foundation Dina Powell speak during the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit in 2016 in San Francisco, Calif.

The writer Anand Giridharadas has a dark view of American philanthropy.

He's been writing about people who say they're changing the world for the better — except that despite their best efforts, it's not working.

"Rich people are playing a double game," Giridharadas says. "On one hand, there's no question they're giving away more money than has ever been given away in history. Every young elite graduate wants to change the world, and seeks out employers, and goes to Africa to volunteer. But I also argue that we have one of the more predatory elites in history, despite that philanthropy, despite

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