Philanthropy’s Role in Civil Society

Bruce Sievers recently wrote a very convincing piece in the Stanford Social Innovation Review calling for philanthropists to fund, support, and address a declining civil society in the U.S.  He argues that by buttressing our civil institutions, increasing civility, and reversing a decline of the news media (a pillar of civil society) we can easier address more obvious problems like education and poverty.  In particular, he calls for a renewed focus on the field of professional journalism and supporting local news sources and newspapers.  Philanthropy, it seems, has been fishing for us instead of teaching us how to fish.