Historians may someday call our era the golden age of giving. The reason lies in several self-reinforcing trends. For one thing, thanks to the potent combination of technology and globalization, we are living through a period of rapid wealth creation. Today's high-tech plutocrats, media moguls, and other new economy elites are setting up mammoth foundations or giving away much of their accumulated assets. A classic example is Microsoft tycoon Bill Gates's foundation.
Demographics matters, too, when it comes to charity.
The elderly do more giving and volunteering than the young. Thus, the aging of the baby boom generation suggests that both will increase over the next several decades. Indeed, data back to the 1920s also show that each generation is more generous than the previous generation at the same age, according to Father Andrew Greeley, a sociologist at the University of Chicago. Another reason for forecasting rapid growth in philanthropy lies with our remarkably turbulent economy. Layoffs are routine, and technological change makes many skills obsolete with chilling rapidity.