Philanthropy+in+France


 * PHILANTROPY ALL OVER THE WORLD **

All over the world there is many philanthropists. First of all, philanthropy took place in the US, during the first half of the 20th century with billionaires like Rockefeller, Carnegie, Ford and Heinz… After that, we can’t say philanthropy was popular because then not many people followed their example. But now, with Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, the 2nd philanthropic age has begun.

On the other hand, in France, philanthropists remain discreet about their fortune and how they use it.

In France we don’t knows how many billionaires there are but we know that there are not a lot of philanthropists. Moreover French people are known for being stingy. French people are mostly catholic; it is one of the reasons of their behavior. Indeed Catholics are not used to give their money away. They prefer it to stay in the family as a legacy. Anyway in France, people can’t disinherit their family following the death duty (when someone dies, everything he ones goes to the succession). However it enables “a cast of rich” to prosper. French people justify their acts by saying that taxes are more expensive than in the US.

One of the two famous billionaires who are known for being philanthropists are Liliane Bettencourt and Bernard Arnaud. They perfectly represent the stingy side of French people by only giving 10 to 15% of their wealth.  To compare, Gates and Buffett are ready to give about 80 to 95% of theirs. And they’re looking forward that new billionaires join them. Some of them would be able to give billions of dollars. Furthermore Bill and his wife created the Giving Pledge association and collected 35 millions of dollars. The money is intelligently distributed to several humanitarian associations. 57 persons are part of it.

Americans are mostly protestant, and for them die rich is useless, because it’s an obstacle to evolution of a country. That’s why they prefer to volunteer and give back.

As a conclusion French people do not volunteer a lot because it is in their religion and in their culture. Today, they start step by step to be more generous, by contributing to the humanitarian projects.

Nesma And Pauline

The Consequences of culture on philanthropy

At first Philanthropy is an attitude considered normal in America which opposed in France. Wealthy French are more discrete and do not expose their wealth like some American people. It is really another way of thinking as in America. Indeed they give more naturally some of their fortune away, like Buffett or Bill Gates. But why the American people are so generous contrary to the French ? That’s what we are going to see in different parts how they distribute their money and what is the cause of this generosity.

The public engagement of forty American billionaires to give away half of their wealth to charity, made sensation last summer.

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This action is named the “giving pledge” and the instigators are the richest men of the world, including Michael Bloomberg, the business man and mayor of New York City, the CNN founder Ted Turner, the director George Lucas, or the co-founder of the software publisher "Oracle", Larry Ellison. =====

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In America this kind of donation is usual and well seen. Antoine Vaccaro ( President of the Center of study and research on the Philanthropy) says: “we consider that the one who was lucky enough to make a lot of money has to give back to the collectivity.” =====

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Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, and Warren Buffet, business man, are the instigators of the giving pledge. They are fifty-seven to have joined this “club” and their fortune reaches €104 billion. They are inspired by the first philanthropists at the beginning of the twentieth century: Carnegie, Rockefeller, Ford and Soros =====

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But is it only charity? Indeed Those donations get fiscal advantages and in Canada it is a way to by-pass taxes. According to Gilles Gagné, sociology teacher, “rich firms or rich people can by-pass the government, which become poorer and can no longer finance universities. On the other hand they will give back that money where it would have been, in a public institution but with the advantage to decide what it’s devoted to.” =====

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Giving half of their wealth away, the billionaires of the giving pledge push us to ask ourselves about a model of society where a personal gift of $ 40 billion is not only possible, but also not considered as a sacrifice for the donator and his heirs. =====

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Moreover, American donations are most of all devoted to social, education and health, sectors financed by the State in France. It could explain why French billionaires give away in the domain of the arts. They also can have the excuse of the importance of taxes. =====