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George Kaiser
Chairman of BOK Financial and Kaiser-Francis Oil, George Kaiser Family Foundation

This Is The PUREST FORM OF CHARITY | George Kaiser | 60 sec clips of wisdom

🎥 Oct 07, 2020 📺 Success Driven ⏱ 0m 👁 92 views
George Kaiser explains his passion for charity and his belief that all children deserve an equal opportunity at birth because the ...
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About George Kaiser

George Kaiser, chairman of BOK Financial and Kaiser-Francis Oil, has described his motivation for philanthropy as "largely guilt," stating that he gained advantages from being born into an advanced society with loving parents. He has said that he is "responsible neither for my genetics nor for my nurturing" and that the "purest form of charity" is to give all children an equal opportunity at birth. Kaiser has stated that the mantra of his foundation is that "no newborn child bears any responsibility for the circumstances of his or her birth" and that a child's future being heavily dependent on those circumstances "just seems fundamentally unfair." Kaiser has been a prominent advocate for early childhood education, particularly for children from birth to age three, which he has called "the most important" intervention. He has argued that such programs are "a moral imperative and a sound investment," citing evidence that they reduce correctional system costs and improve educational attainment. He has also been the visionary behind the Gathering Place park in Tulsa, which he said was intended to be "transformational for the city" and to restore a "sense of community." Kaiser has stated that his foundation aims to be "proactive in creating and expanding programs" and that he is "disturbed by inequality" in American society, preferring to "bring up the have-nots" rather than "knocking down the haves."

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Transcript (1 segments)
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George Kaiser0:02
My motivation for philanthropy was largely guilt, because I realized that I gained advantages by being born in an advanced society with loving parents. If I had not been born in an advanced society of loving parents, I may not have had the opportunity to accomplish what I did. I'm responsible neither for my genetics nor for my nurturing. So I focused in addressing my philanthropy less on my historical or my life experiences than I did on what I thought the purest form of charity was, and that was to give all children an equal opportunity at birth. The mantra of our foundation is that no newborn child bears any responsibility for the circumstances of his or her birth, and yet his or her future is heavily dependent upon those circumstances. That just seems fundamentally unfair.