Tech Barons Learned from Robber Barons

When I first got out of college with my journalism degree and there was a dearth of jobs in journalism, I became a writer for the William Penn Foundation, the 13th largest foundation in the country at the time that had been started by the Haas family who had founded Rohm and Haas, the chemical company in Philadelphia.  I learned a lot about foundations in the five years I was part of William Penn, attending the Council on Foundations annual conference a number of times where decendents of the wealthy families, like the Pillsburys, who started the philanthropies in the U.S. now run many of the programs.  Some of the largest foundations were begun by the successful, ruthless businessmen described by some as "robber barons."

Some feel that the powerful industrialists of the gilded age should be referred to as 'robber barons.' This view accentuates the negative. It portrays men like Vanderbilt and Rockefeller and Ford as cruel and ruthless businessmen who would stop at nothing to achieve great wealth. These "robber barons" were accused of exploiting workers and forcing horrible working conditions and unfair labor practices upon the laborer.

Another view of the industrialist is that of "captain of industry." The term captain views these men as ingenious and industrious leaders who transformed the American economy with their business skills. They were praised for their skills as well as for their philanthropy (charity).

Interestingly, we're seeing a new wave of "robber barons" or tech captains of industry taking up the mantle of philanthropy in a big way.  I had seen Steve Case talk about his Revolution Health initiative at last year's D conference, but still was stunned to see him in the pages of Parade Magazine last weekend heading up a philanthropic initative:

Want to have a say in donating $500,000 to charity? You have just 11 days to join the America’s Giving Challenge, an online initiative sponsored by PARADE and The Case Foundation. The charities in the challenge that attract the greatest number of donors by Jan. 31 will each get $50,000. The big idea behind America’s Giving is 'using technology as a force for good,' says Steve Case, who co-founded AOL and teams with his wife Jean to lead The Case Foundation. Although their concept is big, your contribution doesn’t need to be. 'You can make a huge difference to a charity by giving $10 or $20,' says Jean. Adds Steve, 'And you don’t have to donate money to participate. You can champion a favorite cause by e-mailing your friends and family about it and asking them to support it. Go to Parade.com/givingchallenge for full details.

And of course there is the daddy of them all, Bill Gates, whose Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has pledged to distribute $70B within 50 years of the deaths of the founders -- including a generous allotment of Gates' friend Warren Buffett's fortune.  Gates is speaking at Davos today and he is going beyond his Gates Foundation role to advocate that all successful businesses start adopting a more philanthropic bent that he is calling "creative capitalism."   He believes companies should be putting their best and brightest into programs that focus on building products and services for the poor -- making profits, but also saving lives.

But Mr. Gates's argument for the potential profitability of serving the poor is certain to raise skepticism. 'There's a lot of people at the bottom of the pyramid but the size of the transactions is so small it is not worth it for private business most of the time,' says William Easterly, a New York University professor and former World Bank economist.

Others may point out that poverty became a priority for Mr. Gates only after he'd earned billions building Microsoft into a global giant.

After 10 years of battling Gates' Microsoft as Lotus' PR agency, it's hard for me to think of him as anything other than a voracious competitor.  But I certainly do applaud him turning that intense brilliance and focus to the needs of the poor around the world.  The same goes for Steve Case.  And I will point out that it's interesting, in a year that a woman is running for president, that in both cases the significant others in the relationship are having a strong hand in driving these philanthropic efforts.

It's nice to see that the tech generation is giving back.  Maybe they really are captains of industry rather than "robber barons."  What do you think?