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Shouldn't you put the same amount of effort into your giving as you might for your for-profit investments? After all, philanthropy is an investment, and one in which lives - not profits - are at stake.

Companies are not charitable enterprises: They hire workers to make profits. In the United States, this logic still works. In Europe, it hardly does.

Today, we don't blink an eye when the world's wealthiest individuals donate enormous sums of money to charitable causes. In fact, we expect them to do so.

There is a place and a time for philanthropy, and there is only so much money you can give away.

As I see it, most major philanthropists have been bullied into giving. They feel social pressure to give. It has become a cost of doing business.

Philanthropy should be voluntary.

Most philanthropists would still rather donate to elite schools, concert halls or religious groups than help the poor or sick.

In the charitable world as in the business world, opportunities should drive budgets, not the other way around.

Charity is just writing checks and not being engaged. Philanthropy, to me, is being engaged, not only with your resources but getting people and yourself really involved and doing things that haven't been done before.

Charities must treat donors as if they were shareholders.