WesLive: Wesleyan's Community Blog

Reblogged from: Wesconnect News. (Go to the original post…)

In ‘The Giving Generation,’ Barron’s highlights economics major Brendan Martin ’95 as one whose ‘intellectual capital is changing society,’ with new finance, ownership, and investment models. In his work, Martin hopes to ‘maximize community wealth.’

“Unlike in days of yore, when folks waited until retirement before turning into tea-and-biscuits philanthropists, many newly wealthy Americans today are rolling up their sleeves and starting small- to medium-size charitable foundations when they are in midlife transition. Of the 80,000 family foundations in America, 39% are now in the hands of people aged 40 to 49, according to Foundation Source, a major provider of services to smaller foundations. These new philanthropists, the firm says, control a charitable war chest worth some $83 billion, roughly double the firepower of the giant Gates and Ford foundations combined. …

“… Martin became fascinated by economics in high school, but he always found it odd that basic economic models appeared to view workers as costs to be minimized and eliminated. Was there a way, he wondered, to genuinely serve people who work, alongside those that represent the firm’s capital?

“‘Our whole system is predicated on the greater fool theory—making money on the transfer of wealth, not the creation of wealth,’ he says.”

Read the full story…

Image: via The Working World.

Friendly URL: wesconnect.wesleyan.edu/news-20130118-brendan-martin

Related links

• Conversation with Brendan Martin
• Chicago workers’ economic plan: go co-operative!
• Taking care of business
• Ashoka Fellowship: Brendan Martin
• The Take
• The Working World

Tags: alumni, news, reblogged, wesconnect