These thirteen motivations are framed as reasons people give to philanthropic causes, but they could equally well be motivations to educate, to teach, or to do pretty much anything good for other people. I pass them along because, as we all know, educational researchers love a taxonomy. The thirteen intentions are broken down into four major categories: communitarian, transformative, declarative, and humanitarian. Some of them resonate - when I ride to raise money for the children's hospital, for example, I'm making a statement that hospitals shouldn't need charity to do their work. But are these all and only the intentions to do good? I don't know - I don't think so. I don't see 'care' anywhere in the document, for example. Or 'guilt', or 'responsibility'. They all seem consequentialist, describing intentions to build or form something. If I give money to a panhandler on the street, I'm not trying to do any of this - I'm just trying to recognize the other person as human. Is that OK?
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