Giving Well

So long as large segments of humanity are suffering chronic poverty and are dying from treatable diseases, organized giving can save or enhance millions of lives. With the law providing little guidance, ethics has a crucial role to play in ensuring that the philanthropic practices of individuals, foundations, NGOs, governments, and international agencies are morally sound and effective. In Giving Well: The Ethics of Philanthropy, an accomplished trio of editors bring together an international group of distinguished philosophers, social scientists, lawyers and practitioners to identify and address the most urgent moral questions arising today in the practice of philanthropy. The topics discussed include the psychology of giving, the reasons for and against a duty to give, the accountability of NGOs and foundations, the questionable marketing practices of some NGOs, the moral priorities that should inform NGO decisions about how to target and design their projects, the good and bad effects of aid, and the charitable tax deduction along with the water's edge policy now limiting its reach. This ground-breaking volume can help bring our practice of charity closer to meeting the vital needs of the millions worldwide who depend on voluntary contributions for their very lives.

Patricla Illingworth is Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy and in the College of Business Administration at Northeastern University. She is also a Lecturer in Law at Northeastern University School of Law. Illingworth has held Fellowships at Harvard Law School and at Harvard Medical School. She is the author of Trusting Medicine: The Moral Costs of Managed Care and a co-editor of The Power of Pills and Ethical Healthcare. She is currently a Visiting Scholar in the Harvard Program in Ethics and Health.
Thomas Pogge is Leitner Professor of Philosophy and International Affairs, Yale University; Professorial, Fellow at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics, Australian National University; Research Director, Centre for the Study of Mind in Nature, University of Oslo; and Adjunct Professor at the University of Central Lancashire. His recent publications include World Poverty and Human Rights (2nd ed., 2008) and Politics as Usuali What Lies behind the Pro-Poor Rhetoric (2010). Pogge's current work is focused on a team effort toward developing a complement to the pharmaceutical patent regime that would improve access to advanced medicines for the poor worldwide (www.healthimpactfund.org).
Leif Wenar holds the Chair of Ethics at King's College London. He received his bachelor's degree from Stanford, his doctorate from Harvard, and has recently been a Visiting Professor at Princeton. His most recent publications include "Property Rights and the Resource Curse" (2008). "Realistic Reform of International Trade in Resources" (2009), and (with Branko Milanovic) "Are Liberal Peoples Peaceful?" (2009).