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Ratan N. Tata in his foreword rightly calls the concept of "effective giving" a more recent development. Lala feels the US in particular is witnessing a new flowering of philanthropy, with the two richest men in the world, Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, setting the pace. Part 1 of the slim size book has been devoted to "Personalities", in which the author briefly records the monumental work done by some great philanthropists whose contribution has become a legend. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was created in 2000 based on the principle, "All lives have equal value", it is the largest private foundation in the world donating billions of dollars a year. Its focus is global health, global development and improving access to education. In India, the Gates Foundation is making huge differences to the lives of many through Avahan, launched in 2003, an initiative to arrest the spread of HIV in India. Warren Buffet adopted a different approach and rather than doing anything by himself, pledged $31billion in stocks of his Berkshire shares to Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The idea behind Gates-Buffet combination was to make philanthropy an international movement.
Andrew Carnegie’s focus for donation was education, as he apart from other means of supporting education; also set up 250 public libraries. He gave away billions for this cause during his lifetime and wrote away $30 million in his will. Though giving for helping the poor has always been a part of India’s rich culture, yet, Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy was the pioneer of philanthropy in India. He made large-hearted donations to victims of fire, floods and famine for hospitals and for spreading education amongst his fellow Parsis. India owes a debt of gratitude to this noble soul for creating many institutions of excellence like Sir J J School of Arts, Sir J J College of Architecture and Sir J J Institute of Applied Art. Legendary philanthropy of Tata’s has no parallel in India. Jamsetjee Tata’s exceptional vision and persuasive skills resulted in the creation of Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Taj Mahal hotel, one of the best in its class, Tata Steel and a pioneer hydro-electric project. The vision of Sir Dorabji Tata has been immortalised in the shape of unique organisations like Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) and Tata Memorial Centre for cancer treatment and research. Sir Ratan Tata was the main supporter of Servants of India Society, founded by Gopal Krishan Gokhale. He helped set up a Chair as well as a Department of Social Sciences at London School of Economics (LSE). The credit for major part of the well-known Tata Collections goes to him. Sir Ratan Tata Trust is continuing with its philanthropy work in the present century. Azim Premji, the founder of WIPRO, has given away by far the largest individual donation in India. Premji who is known for non-negotiable integrity, has also contributed Rs 700 crore for raising the level of school education in India. The second part of the book is devoted to "Principles of Giving". A few striking examples of individual giving prove the point that it is not only the affluent who can give but also those with hardly any money. Personal giving gives the greatest joy to the giver. It is estimated that approximately 75 per cent of the $38.44 billion collected by The Giving Foundation in US till 2009, consists of individual donations. Most givers have framed their own principles or laid-down guidelines for giving. But most important of these principles is that giving should not create arrogance in the givers themselves or the professionals helping the donors. Though giving is a great virtue, this kind of attitude must be controlled if giving has to be meaningful. In India, trusts, which are governed by many myriad Central and state governments laws, are the main system of philanthropy. Unfortunately, many trusts are not trustworthy and genuine acts of generosity suffer. Yet many organisations run by NGOs are doing a very good job. Give India, an online donation portal, has channeled more than Rs 125 crore since its inception in 1999. Though India has the fourth largest number of billionaires in the world and has the highest number of poor, yet only a handful emulate the example of great souls, who had same passion for philanthropy as they devoted to business. Every one seems to be rushing through life, but there is a need to pause and think of the very purpose of life. This can help "widen the circle" and get others to emulate the generosity of some great human beings, which according to the author is his aim of writing this book.
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