Philanthropy is the Gateway to Power

“Philanthropy is the gateway to power… there are few people who decide what will happen in our world. You have been invited to join them – pull back the curtain and take your seat.” Roger Sterling, Mad Men

While watching Mad Men Season 2 last week, suddenly, mid-episode, I was brought up short by a show-stopping quote from Roger Sterling. Sterling, the senior partner at the fictitious Sterling Cooper Agency circa 1962, tells his Creative Director Don Draper that he’s been invited to join an arts foundation board. Looking puzzled, Don asks “What does that mean?” Without skipping a beat, Roger Sterling says “Philanthropy is the gateway to power.”

And so it was. For generations, it was the wealthy and powerful that sat on Foundation Boards and decided how important resources would be distributed and determined who had the most urgent need. Philanthropists from that era supported societal institutions, like the New York City Public Library, the Ballet, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Less attention was paid to local community organizations that struggled daily with the more pedestrian problems of hunger, unemployment, and education.

But times have changed. With the emergence of global social media and the lightning speed of the Internet, the ease of mobilizing people through Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and a hundred other channels is staggering. We can now use technology to unleash support and create awareness with a broad base of social givers. People of all stripes are engaged with causes, political events and environmental issues. The term for this is “new philanthropy,” which means employing accountability and entrepreneurship to address some of the most troublesome societal problems of our time, such as poverty, global literacy, and disease.

In my business, we help CEOs to get involved with philanthropy on a number of levels. Without exception, the CEOs we work with are high achieving, passionate, hard driving individuals by nature. Powerful and influential, they are natural-born leaders whom others tend to want to follow. When it comes to philanthropy, they lead by example.

When CEOs engage with a cause they care about, everybody wins. The philanthropic organizations benefit from the passionate enthusiasm of a leader who spreads the word and influences others to get involved. The CEO experiences a deep level of satisfaction from producing results, and truly making a difference in the lives of others. The companies enjoy the invaluable benefits of brand association with a philanthropic enterprise. Employees have the opportunity to get behind a good cause, and take ownership over what their brand represents to the outside world. Not a bad way to become a good corporate citizen.

To use a quote from JKF’s 1961 inaugural speech that even Don Draper would appreciate,

“The torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans…. The world is very different now, for man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty. “