We at the Agitator have had an exclusive opportunity to talk with one of London’s leading philanthropists, Ebenezer Scrooge.  He talks about his giving patterns, criteria, and where he sees the sector going.

NE: Thank you for joining us today.  As I understand it, you started your giving about five years ago.

ES: Five years ago this month.  I started small with a donation to a door-to-door fundraiser for the poor and a GoFundMe campaign for renal tubular acidosis treatment.  But once I saw the joy that came from greater giving, I was hooked.

NE: What was your early giving journey like?

ES: I quickly found out I needed to be more thoughtful in my giving.  Once word got ‘round that I had started giving, I got more than enough mail to keep the counting house fires burning day and night.  If I’d given to everyone who had their hand out, I would have needed charity instead of giving it.

NE: So how did you become more thoughtful in your giving?

ES: First is the foundation.  Emily Cratchit administers that wonderfully.  She works to find the most efficient ways of changing people’s lives; I just put my quill to the dotted line.  I’m proud to say the Scrooge Foundation does much of the unglamorous, necessary works some foundations leave behind.  We also lead the way on generous indirect cost ratios so that charities can do the work they need to.

I’ve also changed the way I do business.  I have seed funding into some promising pharmaceuticals and water purification technologies.  I want to do well and do good.

Then, I pick out a few charities that have meaning to me to donate to personally.  For example, I’m very supportive of the restorations to the old Fezziwig building and the Drood estate – they still haven’t figured out what happened to that poor man.  And I’ve helped with some advocacy – ending child labor, restricting quicksilver use at the milliners, that sort of thing.

It used to be I just picked up my credit card or checque book for those, but now most of my major personal giving is through a donor-advised fund.  I like the tax advantages plus it’s nice to have a specific amount that I must give to charity.  But there are some disadvantages too.

NE: Such as?

ES: Some charities make it so hard to donate with a donor-advised fund.  Or they forget that you like to donate with your DAF and ask you for individual donations.  Or they don’t send you an acknowledgment of the gift because it comes from the fund.  Generally, I’ve found only a few charities have figured out how to work with DAFs.  But in fairness, I’ve only just started to figure out how to use one. (Laughs)

NE: What other frustrations have you found from charities in your giving?

ES: Well, when I give online, I want to give in memory of my old partner Jacob Marley to see if I can lighten some of his burden.  But that’s often a source of frustration.  Some sites require me to send an e-card.  I ask you: to whom?  Marley is dead to begin with, or else I wouldn’t be making a gift in his memory, would I?

I mentioned the sheer quantity of correspondence I began to receive upon giving.  To this day, I don’t know how I instantly became the target for every scribbler who could pick up a pen.

NE: What’s next for you?

ES: Death. I assure you, no man alive knows his own mortality better than I.  But I wish to leave a legacy that will last on this earth beyond a headstone.  I have no direct family, so I hope to be better than my word to the causes I care about.

NE: Mr. Scrooge, thank you for your time today.