Are You a Donor or a Philanthropist?

Strictly speaking, a donor is a philanthropist. But, we often use these terms differently, reserving philanthropist for the wealthy (a Andrew Carnegie or Warren Buffett perhaps); and donor or giver for people of more modest means. Is there a difference between a donor and a philanthropist? Do they differ by size of donation? Motivation? Consistency? Income? Assets? Outcome? Intention? Does it matter?

Francie Ostrower in her book, Why the Wealthy Give, suggests that "philanthropy" is connected to the "elite" and is seen as something qualitatively different by those elite. Ostrower says, "Elites take philanthropy...and adapt it into an entire way of life that serves as a vehicle for the cultural and social life of their class...."

But are those philanthropists the same as "philanthropocapitalists" such as Bill Gates? And what about the "$5 philanthropists" of the Obama campaign? Perhaps, the process is important, as Tracy Gary maintains in her book, Inspired Philanthropy.

We suspect that all the categories are breaking down, but we went looking for enlightenment anyway. Here are some of the sources and comments we found:

• The Bank of America's Study of High Net-Worth Philanthropy slices and dices donors into numerous "archetypes," ranging from the "very wealthy" to the "altruistic donor" to the "financially pragmatic donor." Get even more confused about where you fit.
• The Chronicle of Philanthropy blog discusses donors as "investors." An investing attitude might change the character of the donor and donation.
• Philanthro Media sees "active philanthropists" and "passive donors." In fact, there seem to be three types of philanthropists: the reactor, the activist, and the prudent delegator.
• Sudhir Venkatesh, in Freakonomics, delved into the minds of young, rich, philanthropists and came up with some interesting insights such as the difficulty in giving away money, the philanthropists' unrealistic expectations of change, and their reluctance to talk about their "self-interest."
• Alliance Magazine explained the "new philanthropy" as by the young, characterized by a do-it-yourself philosophy, innovative, and global. The "new" philanthropy is not the "old" philanthropy.

What do you think? Philanthropist? Donor? New, old? Let us know in the comments.