Presenter Luciano Huck, Elie Horn, from Cyrella, and Sergio Rial, from Santander, are part of a group that wants to structure philanthropy
The presenter Luciano Huck, the founder of Cyrella, Elie Horn, the president of the board of directors of Santander, Sergio Rial, the president of Bradesco, Octavio de Lazari Junior, the founder of Marfrig Marcos Molina, and more than a thousand representatives from the business sectors and social groups met this Monday (25) to discuss how to organize and expand philanthropy in Brazil on a permanent basis .
Basically, they are trying to maintain what appeared to be a new pattern of private sector donations following Covid-19. In the first year of the pandemic, the high volume of donations made by companies based on spontaneous initiatives by their founders and shareholders drew attention. A total of R$7.2 billion was offered by 732 thousand donors, a historic number by Brazilian standards , according to the ABCR (Brazilian Association of Fundraisers) donation monitor.
It is also possible to see the weight of companies in another survey, carried out by Bisc (Corporate Social Investment Benchmarking), by Comunitas, which brings together 17 institutes and 324 of the largest companies in the country. In 2020 alone, the group donated R$5 billion, double the average in the previous four years.
These figures paid for, just to name a few examples, health equipment and products, social enterprises to generate income and countless basic food baskets to help the families of the 36 million informal workers in the country who were left without work, 4 in every 10 of the national total. Engagement was especially strong in 2020, but has lost momentum.
There is fear that there will be a setback as Covid-19 slows down. Data for 2021 has not yet been consolidated, but this year, until mid-April, 66 companies donated R$50 million, according to ABCR monitoring.
Historically, the standard of generosity leaves something to be desired in the country. Only 0.2% of Brazilians make donations. Those who donate more are those who have less. In Brazil, the richest donate amounts equivalent to a third of what the poorest donate, proportionally to their income, despite concentrating national wealth — around 1% holds a third of Brazilian income, according to data from Gife (Group of Institutes Foundations and Companies), disclosed to the audience.
“Talking about generating wealth cannot be demonized, but selfishness needs to be demonized,” said Rial in his presentation. The meeting, organized by Banco Santander and Movimento Bem Maior, was called Legacy, in an allusion to what structured philanthropy can produce over the years in a country like Brazil.
The meeting was broadcast on the internet, but still, for three hours, it filled the Santander theater, in the Faria Lima region, with a capacity for a thousand people.
“We are responsible for the poor population's discomfort and we have to do good, whether we want to or not, and it's better to do it if we want to, because it costs less,” said Elie Horne, co-founder of Movimento Bem Maior, who was interviewed by Luciano Huck on theater stage.
Elie Horn, alongside his wife Suzy, was the first business leader in Latin America to join The Giving Pledge, at the invitation of its creators, Bill Gates , from Microsoft, and Warren Buffett, from Berkshire Hathaway. Joining this initiative determines that at least half of the donor's wealth will be transferred to philanthropic actions. Horn has committed to donating 60% of his wealth to social causes.
One of the pillars of the discussion among defenders of philanthropy at this time is to recognize the power of donations to reduce the country's structural inequality , at a time when it is increasing.
“Brazil is a poor country, although people who are in a better condition do not see this clearly, the numbers show it well, and there is poverty in Brazil that is cyclical, from generation to generation, and that affects all dimensions of a person’s life, not just their income”, says Maurício Padro, founder of Plano CDE, a low-income research company.
According to a survey by Plano CDE, around 75% of the population lives with a monthly family income of less than R$4,500.
At some levels, the money is barely enough to survive. Around 45% of the population is in class C, with income between R$2,000 and R$4,500. Those who earn R$2,500 in São Paulo, for example, spend R$1,250 on food and cleaning products, and another R$1,000 on rent. There is R$250 left to pay for water, electricity, telephone, internet and leisure for four people, the average size of a family in this range.
This portion still has restricted access to basic services: 45% do not have access to sewage, 16% still do not have treated water and internet access is precarious. According to Prado, 90% of families had to share WhatsApp on a cell phone during the pandemic. “This was distance learning for this part of the population,” she said.
The pandemic, followed by a slower and more disorganized recovery than expected, with a lack of inputs, increased inflation, and the outbreak of Russia's war in Ukraine worsened the low-income situation . According to Plano CDE, 55% of Brazilians live with some type of food insecurity , with 38% of families depending on donations to eat.
The outlook is for the scenario . Research by Tendências Consultoria Integrada, released at the beginning of the year, shows that classes D and E already represent 55% of the country, and tend to gain 1.2 million more households this year. At the same time, this segment will lose 14% of its income mass — sum of the usual income from work calculated by IBGE, transfers from Bolsa Família , Continuous Payment Benefit, Social Security and other sources.
The understanding is that philanthropy, in this context, could act to reduce shortages and deficiencies in basic services and products, increasing well-being and health, and creating conditions for social mobility, especially with initiatives in education.
Part of the work involves raising awareness among politicians. “We cannot be averse to politics, we need to put the best politicians in power, otherwise there will be mediocre leadership like today”, stated Luciano Huck. In the presenter's opinion, not only monetary donations make a difference. People can act in many ways to reorganize Brazil.
Germano Guimarães, co-founder and CEO at Tellus, the first Public Services Innovation and Design organization in Brazil, gave a presentation based on this principle. “We are not going to replace the State, we cannot make public policy, but we can promote experiences that contribute to better performance in the public sector,” he said.
Guimarães cited as examples the Idis movement, which led to the processing of the Philanthropic Heritage Funds bill, also known as Endowments, aimed at receiving donations to support causes or organizations. He also highlighted the initiative of the Lemann Foundation, run by businessman Jorge Paulo Lemann, which helped to equalize the curricular base of early childhood and elementary education in the country.
The deterioration in Brazilian income, which is beginning to spread throughout the social pyramid, is already compromising the generosity of the average Brazilian. The trend appears in the Giving Report 2021, released in February this year, with data relating to 12 months before the arrival of Covid-19 until November 2020. According to the report, the share of the population that declared having made a donation fell from 78% to 72%.
The drop in family income among the middle and lower classes explains this behavior . The survey identified that three in five Brazilians, equivalent to 60% of the population, feel a drop in income, while 84% say they are worried about the future of their family income.
The Giving Report is a publication organized by the British entity CAF (Charities Aid Foundation) that tracks and measures engagement in philanthropy in 114 countries. In Brazil, the research has, since 2005, been in partnership with Idis (Institute for the Development of Social Investment).
Another highlight of the survey was reinforcing the perception of companies. The majority, 53%, agreed that companies supported communities during the pandemic, but an even larger share, 73%, said companies could have done more.
According to American philanthropist Peggy Dulany, daughter of banker David Rockefeller, private sector participation begins with a change in the business owner's worldview. She participated virtually in the event and recommended that Brazilian businesspeople reflect on whether and how they donate.
“Being a philanthropist requires internal work, so you can see what your personal obstacles are: are you afraid to talk about the topic? Are you afraid of talking to people as equals? Because you may have the money, but other people will do the work. It takes a certain amount of humility to do this,” said Dulany.
In 1968, Dulany lived for three months in the Jacarezinho favela, in Rio de Janeiro. She is an unconditional defender of the distribution of wealth, setting an example at home. Her father, a billionaire, died at age 101 in 2017, leaving most of his wealth to charity.
The Rockefeller family fortune, estimated at US$8.4 billion, is spread among more than 70 heirs. Founder and president of the Synergos Institute, an entity dedicated to promoting philanthropy and social responsibility, Peggy is convinced that the business sector can and should work to reduce inequality.
She is part of a group of American billionaires who have adopted philanthropy as part of the family business. In the United States, a country with 735 billionaires monitored by Forbes magazine, philanthropy is a practice defended and organized by part of the business elite. Not only is the value of fortunes monitored, but also the volume and destination of donations from others.
Thanks to this monitoring, it is possible to measure detachment and present Warren Buffett, the sixth richest man at the moment, as an example (a fortune that fluctuates with the rise and fall of the stock markets). With an estimated fortune of R$122 billion, he has already donated US$46.1 billion, almost 38% of his net worth. He is the leader in the donor ranking. Its focus is to improve health care and combat poverty.
No one, however, donated as quickly as lawyer and writer MacKenzie Scott, ex-wife of Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon. She is considered one of the most influential women in the world and has promised to donate at least half of her US$54.5 billion fortune. In two years, it has directed nearly $9 billion to 780 organizations that champion causes such as gender equality, racial justice and public health. Among them are 16 Brazilian NGOs .
Driven by the stock market, the wealth of the 400 richest Americans listed by Forbes in 2021 grew 40%, reaching US$4.5 trillion, an unparalleled value. But not everyone increased their donations. The two richest businessmen in the world do not even appear on the list of the ten biggest donors.
Elon Musk, from Tesla , with a fortune of US$270 billion, the richest in the world, and Jeff Bezos, from Amazon , with US$170 billion, second in the ranking, donated less than 1% of their assets. They are much younger than most of the most generous donors, an indication that philanthropy, anywhere in the world, is a culture that needs to be constantly debated and encouraged to transform into a legacy.
This article was originally published on the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper website .
