Back in late 2007 when I coined the term Philanthro-Capitalist™ I remember searching Google, Yahoo and MSN for the term and could find nothing. Today I ran a search and there are pages and pages of results for the same term.
The other thing that I did was I put a trademark symbol besides the term Philanthro-Capitalist™ but I knew it meant nothing. In fact I still chuckle when I think about doing it that first time.
While I am tickled that this term is getting all the play that it is receiving I still think that my meaning of the term is very different than what I see out there. So what does it mean to be a Philanthro-Capitalist™?
A Philanthro-Capitalist is a business person who is engaged in giving while creating a profit which in turn allows for more giving or philanthropy while creating even more profit. With this model there is ascending growth so that more and more people are impacted.
On the hand charities operate on a self-liquidation model. They receive money, give it all away and then come back asking for more. Charities also spend a huge amount of time and money raising money. As Philanthro-Capitalists™ become more successful, charities will be the beneficiaries of the funds generated from their businesses.
I write this explanation here to answer once and for all the many people that often approach me and say “Allan Marston – Philanthro-Capitalist – what the heck does that mean? I hope this explanation suffices.
