The very idea of “charity” is at odds with the reality of loving our fellow humans.

Inherent in the practice of “charity” is helping those “in need” — as though those “in need” are over there, those other people, as though we don’t have our own needs, too. There is no sense of mutuality in charity. There is no sense of solidarity.

The oft-spoken tropes about “giving back” to the community, or helping the “less fortunate,” inherently create an “us” and a “them.”

But that’s an illusion.

The roots of the word philanthropy are Greek: philos, meaning love (think Philadelphia, the “City of Brotherly Love”), and anthropos, meaning humanity (think anthropology, or the scientific study of humanity).

Yet, in the many years that I’ve worked in the field of professionalized philanthropy, I’ve observed that there is very little love, or humanity, in the prevailing practice of “philanthropy” today.