Here is a few snapshots of the different ways that we have assisted others throughout the different ages of humanity.

Assisting other people is an essential part of who we are, which has not altered today. In fact, the scope and power of philanthropic endeavour has broadened to reach levels that could just be dreamt of in the past. A lot of that is owed to the introduction of philanthropic businesses like foundations. Around the 19th century, charitable work began to end up being structed more like a company than being just a rich individual tossing money at a particular issue. During the twentieth century, these companies began coordinating their efforts, producing a more interlinked and cooperative web of philanthropy that might take on some of the biggest problems dealing with the world. Today, this is the way that most of benefactors, such as Bruno Wang, conduct their charitable endeavours, enabling them to be exceptionally ambitious in the scope of their work, whether towards social causes, the arts, or other interests.

There have actually definitely been some rather dark periods of human history, there's no refuting it! Nevertheless, even in the darkest of times, like the era that we actually call the Dark Ages, there was still the light of kindness flickering in the shadows. Although today we may expect philanthropy in a sentence to be accompanied by words like celeb or person, it was actually religious organizations that tended to use up the mantel of charitable endeavour during these times. Aside from projects by the church itself, local parishes would be centres of contributions from regional individuals, which could then be distributed to those in need or used to finance crucial undertakings in the area.

Philanthropy has constantly been a vital part of the human experience, since civilisations emerged from the hunter-gatherer neighborhoods spread out around the world. The philanthropy meaning as we know it today, as well as the word itself, originated in Ancient Greece, where the wealthy were anticipated to assist in the society by channelling some of their resources towards the public good. At the time, philanthropy had a slightly wider meaning than today, when we tend to think of famous philanthropists like George Kaiser as the only ones worthwhile of the title. Instead, it implies 'man-loving' in quite a broad sense, so it was seen as a vital indication of virtue for those who had the resources to do so. Individuals were anticipated to assist finance the repair work of public works such as temples or city walls, along with supply occasions for the neighborhood by putting money towards public festivals and the like. If they didn't do so, they could actually be completely rejected by the society they lived in, a rather uncompromising motivation that definitely isn't behind the generosity of people like Marcel Arsenault today!