I personally think that society is responsible for a very significant percentage of what I've earned……I work in a market system that happens to reward what I do very well ......the way I see it is that my money represents an enormous number of claim checks on society
– Warren Buffet, investor, philanthropist, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway and the second richest man in the world

Wealth is often a reflection of how much opportunity is afforded by the social, political and economic system of any country. And as has been oft repeated, most famously by noted philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, huge fortunes that flow in large part from society should be in large part, returned to society. Be it from an individual or a corporation’s point of view, the inescapable fact is that there is no system, at least in the capitalist world, that serves as an effective distribution mechanism for the billions that are not born lucky. Equally true, of course, is that without capitalism there probably wouldn’t be billions to give away. Warren Buffet believes that societies that aspire to equality come back time and again to the issue of how to rein in great fortunes without damaging the essential function of wealth creation.

Our debate this month is on this very subject. Are corporations reaching out to help the needy and are the individually wealthy doing their bit for society? The answer to both is yes, but just not enough. A lot of the sponsorships typically seen here is to support some community’s cultural programme. This is fine but being one of 20 companies who give away as little as RO150 to as much as RO1500 and received a number of free passes in return, cannot be totted up as help for the deprived. But as our participants also pointed out there needs to be a greater amount of transparency by the charities or organisations that are engaged in philanthropic work; being registered bodies also helps when it comes to approaching companies for help.

Talking about those who can contribute to society from their personal wealth, there are some who truly live by the tenets of philanthropy. Not everyone though who can give, gives. One of the most important considerations that are weighed by men who are giving off their personal wealth, is the issue of how much are they leaving for their children. This affects decisions across the world despite arguments that children of such people would have all the advantages anyway in terms of how they grow up and is it right or rational to be flooding them with money? Warren Buffet was quoted in Fortune almost 20 years ago saying, “... a very rich person should leave his kids enough to do anything but not enough to do nothing.”

Mohana Prabhakar
Managing editor