7/26 Odyssey / Wave of Donations / Middle Way
Hello! You are reading Das Neue Geben with currently 6,974 others. 📖 This issue from Thursday, July 30, 2026 has 1,997 words, reading time approx. 10 minutes
Dear Readers,
This newsletter comes from the US, and it packs a punch. In New York, I spoke with two major donors and was admitted to the P150 group of globally leading philanthropy consultants, in Washington DC I discussed with nonprofit experts preparing for a “third wave” of US philanthropy (see below), and in Miami I am currently experiencing a city that has completely transformed into one of the global gravity centers for the wealthy and their giving since the pandemic.
But it would be too easy to write with wide eyes from the “Promised Land” of philanthropy. Neither my children nor I would want to trade. And the most beautiful experiences of these weeks were in the laundromat, at the pinball machine, and in a church service.
My essay is also not about my own journey, but about the oldest travelogue of humanity. In the widest cinema seat I have ever sat in, I saw “Odyssey” by Christopher Nolan (speaking of wide eyes), and a punchline in it impressed me deeply.
Furthermore, based on a discussion triggered by my column in the Handelsblatt, I wonder for whom taxes have become voluntary, celebrate new billion-dollar commitments, and am delighted about the largest single deposit on bcause so far.
Warmly, Felix
✍️ ESSAY: Are We The Sea People?
Image: A golden olive wreath in the Troy Museum, photographed April 2026
The end of civilization is nothing new, which is worth remembering in light of some contemporary discussions. A few weeks ago, I stood on the hill of Troy at the entrance to the Dardanelles and found amateur videos on YouTube that give an impression of how magical the Iliad and the Odyssey sounded when they were passed down by singers nearly three thousand years ago.
The human catastrophe that Homer recalls is the mysterious downfall of several advanced civilizations hundreds of years earlier by predatory “Sea Peoples”. Christopher Nolan leaves nothing out; his Odysseus must of course escape the Cyclops, resist the sirens' songs, free his men turned into pigs by greed, and find the needle's eye between the marine hazards of Scylla and Charybdis. That was my favorite scene as a child.
What I am only realizing now: The epic is actually about the law of hospitality, Zeus’s protection for strangers, who are to be treated as you yourself would want to be treated. Nolan places this variation of the Golden Rule in every scene. And he adds a punchline: After Odysseus’s return to Ithaca, the principled Penelope, looking at the Greek princes consumed by excess and jealousy, asks with devastating clarity: “Are WE the sea people?”
For Homer, Troy did not fall because barbarians destroyed it. It was the glorified Greeks to whom he wrote a triumphant story. Penelope's question is not in the text, but it is so good that I wonder if the whole story isn't a Trojan horse for this insight.
After every civilizational catastrophe, humanity has recovered, built something new, often quoting the best of an idealized past. I can understand that there are still many today who say it won't be that bad. In the last newsletter, I asked how high the walls of wealth have to be when things are burning in more and more places. Today, huge clouds of smoke are drifting over Europe and the US.
In Homer’s time, Greece was densely forested. Climate change is nothing new either, one could say. It is tempting to believe that everything will work itself out. But unlike the Homeric gods, you cannot negotiate with global warming. The strangers whose livelihood we are destroying by not sharing are already living today.
Nolan's film grossed $124 million on its opening weekend in the US alone, my $15 ticket included. Perhaps it is a blockbuster, of all things, that helps many people answer the big question “What should we do?” with very individual generosity toward strangers. No matter what golden laurel wreaths we carry, without them we are barbarians.
A person who inspires me Melanie Perkins
Image: Melanie Perkins, Australian Canva co-founder
One of the largest announced wealth donations in the anticipated tech-philanthropy wave is taking more concrete shape: Canva co-founder Melanie Perkins and her husband Cliff Obrecht want to dedicate more than 80 percent of their joint wealth to charitable purposes. Currently, this amounts to more than 12 billion US dollars, around 30 percent of the total Canva value for their foundation. On July 17, they launched the Global Goals Platform: people are invited to share which goal they would like to see achieved in their lifetime; first pilot projects are running in the US and in Wollongong, Australia, with results expected to be published at the end of 2026. In parallel, the Canva Foundation has pledged a total of 150 million US dollars for direct cash transfers in Malawi: more than 130,000 people have already been reached, and another 185,000 adults are to receive payments over the next four years.
Even larger sums could be announced in the coming months. Several of the seven Anthropic founders pledged years ago to donate 80% of their wealth, which according to initial calculations amounts to over 86 billion dollars. The OpenAI Foundation holds a stake of around 130 billion dollars. The fact that money is being moved right now has a lot to do with taxes: in a liquidity event, it is particularly attractive for US tech wealthy to contribute highly valued stocks or shares directly to charity instead of selling them first. However, the wave will look less like traditional donations and more like transfers into philanthropic vehicles such as Donor Advised Funds. When the money actually flows to organizations was one of the big discussion points at the United Philanthropy Infrastructure Forum in Washington DC, which was part of my journey.
bcause for Organizations
bcause enables non-profit organizations to collect donations digitally, manage them centrally, access them flexibly – and earn interest on them in the meantime. Major donations are the greatest hope for many organizations. But how does that work in practice? How do you approach the strategy, tap into networks, leverage your presence on bcause, the interest on balances, and the fundraising tools?
This is exactly where a new partnership with neues-stiften comes in. In four compact online hours, Andreas Schiemenz, one of the most experienced major donor consultants in the German-speaking world, will guide you through the central success factors.
The seminar is aimed at organizations that want to build up their major donor program in a targeted manner. Four hours, 750 euros, registration here
Or for specific questions about using bcause, simply book an online appointment with my colleagues Nicole and Simone .
A number that sticks in your mind €1.9M
Image: Donation advertising for democracy funds on Kudamm
The largest single deposit on bcause to date reached us in July. While this is not yet on the scale of US donations, it proves once again that online platforms are not just used for smaller transactions (in total, over 4.5 million donations were deposited into bcause accounts in July).
Unlike in Germany, it rarely took me more than a minute to explain bcause in the US. In principle, the model is what has taken in far larger sums than traditional foundations in recent years as Donor Advised Funds. The payout rate is significantly higher, the handling simpler, the costs lower. Nevertheless, the funds face criticism, especially when held by banks for whom distributing the money is not a priority.
And this is where the bcause model deliberately diverges in two ways from the US blueprint: We do not put tax incentives or returns in the foreground (even if that were tempting), but rather the good causes to which the money is meant to flow. And this is also bigger than ever: Between ads for the latest mobile phones and clothing brands, the giant display on Berlin's Ku’damm is currently showing the Democracy Fund that we set up with PHINEO.
Club Neues Geben
At bcause, Professional members have the opportunity to participate in the asset management of the bcause Treuhandstiftung using their donation balance
This means: Deposited donation balances, for which the decision on use is still pending, do not just sit there, but can already actively make an impact. In our multi-asset portfolio, which is broadly diversified across impact funds and companies. While the donation balance is invested there, it is working.
In the first full year since we started sharing this offer with our users, the portfolio achieved +6.97% net p.a. The returns flow back proportionally to the foundation accounts as additional balance for further grants.
Around half of the capital flows directly as primary capital into 31 impact positions: climate, social issues, mental health.
More about bcause Impact and the opportunity to participate with your own assets in the webinar on Sept 21 with our Head of Finance Marvin Wiek as well as expert Wiebke Merbeth from our investment advisory board. 📆 For registration: https://lnkd.in/gfqbrKAV We offer other learning and exchange formats twice a month for people who want to engage with larger sums as part of our Club Neues Geben. Feel free to write to katharina.bauch@bcause.com if you are interested. Exclusive for givers, no fundraising.
An idea to think further Voluntary taxes?
My latest Handelsblatt column on tax advisors triggered an unusual amount of feedback. It clearly hits a sore spot: if large estates can be structured with enough advice so that hardly any inheritance tax is due, are taxes then factually voluntary for a part of society? Not the tax liability itself, but certainly the decision of how much you actually pay.
Behind this lies perhaps more than the desire to keep as much as possible. Despite all cultural differences, many people in Germany and the US share the conviction that they can decide better than the state on what their money should be used for. Trust in public institutions is limited; at the same time, most have very concrete ideas about what would be important to them. Perhaps this is why there is a barely tapped space between tax payment and tax avoidance: people definitely want to contribute to the community – but they want to see and co-determine what comes of it.
So why not turn a small, equal part of the tax for everyone into a civic budget? The state would still decide on the amount and permissible purposes, but taxpayers could allocate a share to, say, education, climate protection, or care, and track digitally what happens with it. In Spain, it is already possible to designate 0.7 percent of income tax for social purposes without changing one's own tax burden. In France, company pension plans must at least allow investment in a solidarity fund. This is not yet a democratic restructuring of the tax system. But it points to a middle ground: away from tax as
Newsletter
So much is written. About everything. Except about giving. Every day I meet people who want to and can give more. Ideas and organizations that make a difference.
In my newsletter, I talk about topics that otherwise remain unexplained: Why people give or don't, which paths and wrong turns they take, how the market of giving works - with surprising numbers, inspiring portraits, and provocative ideas.
