ABSTRACT
Philanthropy, broadly perceived as the use of private resources for public benefit and social change. Across the positions, there is agreement that philanthropy-governmental relations are an important and ongoing feature, where philanthropy makes a mark on the types and directions of public goods and services that emerge in society. The chapter focuses on Gray's questions of curiosity around nongovernmental contributors, contributions, and associated rationalities and impact, as reflect on the intersections, convergences, divergences, and parallels of philanthropy and public goods and services. It discusses philanthropy's core component of discretion and how this impacts on our wider understanding of the field. Given the diverse nature and expressions of philanthropy, focus on philanthropy as social transactions of wealth or material objects. Although collaborations between government and philanthropy, as well as a refocusing of public service funding and provisions toward philanthropy, are central contemporary themes, philanthropy's deserved or imagined reputation for being high minded or otherworldly both aids and hampers its roles.
