What is philanthropy? Well, the literal definition, according to the Oxford Dictionary is “the desire to promote the welfare of others, expressed especially by the generous donation of money to good causes.” However, what does philanthropy mean to individuals? It is plausible to say that not everyone has the same definition when they think of the word philanthropy. Therefore, how should one know the true intention of a self proclaimed philanthropist?
Many of you who are familiar with the word philanthropist are probably familiar with the name Bill Pulte as well. Bill Pulte is the son of billionaire/construction company owner William J. Pulte, who unfortunately is no longer with us. As a result of William J. Pulte’s passing, Bill Pulte has inherited some of the billions of dollars his father had earned from his company. What Bill Pulte decided to do with some of his inheritance money has gained the attention of quite an audience. News outlets everywhere have made sure of that. Bill Pulte has earned a reputation off of charitable acts of donating large sums of money to those who are less fortunate and even donating substantial amounts of money to random strangers on the internet. Bill Pulte has been proclaimed ‘the inventor of Twitter Philanthropy’ because of all of this. What does this all have to do with the agenda of twitter philanthropists you might ask, well that can be found by diving head first into the philanthropic community.
When I first heard about Bill Pulte, I was suprised to see what he was doing, it is quite unheard of for any billionaire to personally give so much money to individuals. My initial thought when entering the community was, “Who doesn’t like free money?” I soon learned quickly that thinking this way can lead to the exact opposite of what is intended by the agenda of twitter philanthropists. One agenda I found out about this community is the promotion to find one’s inner peace. Bill Pulte promotes this often when he tweets, in fact. Life is too short to be stressed all the time, in my opinion. This agenda doesn’t seem bad so far. Right?
Another agenda of this community is to inspire others to do charitable acts. There have been many pages that have acquired audiences in the same fashion by giving to others. However, some pages have just used this as a way to boost followers. which is a shame when you think about it. This wasn’t the intent for twitter philanthropy, but from all good things there comes corruption. There are certain individuals that do make it a mission on twitter, regardless of there financial stability, to give to those in need because of the good agenda intention. For those people, they are truly doing good deeds. Twitter philanthropy has made a ripple effect in a sense and I believe there is good that comes from it.
The bottom line is that, the twitter philanthropic agenda of twitter I believe has good intentions and has done some real charitable works. However, I do think if you are looking to be apart of the twitter philanthropic community that you should do your research when it comes to who you want to associate with and where charity should be provided. Like previously stated, its sad to say but corruption is in the twitter philanthropy community as well. There are some people who will fabricate any story to earn a quick buck. There are also some people that will lie about giving to others just to earn more followers. Anyways, regardless of all of this, the twitter philanthropic agenda is good, and I think that we need more of it in this world.
Finally, I’d like to say that it is OK to want to win a giveaway on Twitter of a large sum of money, however; just because you do not win does not mean that you shouldn’t spread the love of charity to others. Many people have cried out on Twitter for help because of serious financial needs and these people would be happy to even win a dollar. If you do your research, you can make a difference in the philanthropist community!
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