The Secret Society for Creative Philanthropy :: Giving Oprah a Run for her Money

I just found out about this event, and couldn't help digging in to learn more about it.

Secret Society for Creative Philanthropy, San Francisco Chapter
Friday, February 19, 2010 :: 7:00pm - 10:00pm
Public Architecture, 1211 Folsom Street, San Francisco, CA

Ten people have been given $100, and thus, officially inducted into the Secret Society for Creative Philanthropy, founded 2005. As a new member of SSCP they are required to give away this money in some hair-brained, spontaneous, and/or super serious fashion. And live to tell the tale.

Past recipients (of which there are now over 40) have inserted $20 bills in young adult fiction books in the library, given bartenders and taxi drivers $100 tips, thrown $100 worth of quarters in elementary school playgrounds, bought desserts, flowers, sandwiches, and movie tickets for unsuspecting others, paid strangers to talk to one another, and given artist-friends mini-grants.

As if you didn’t already feel special enough, being invited to this thing, you will be pleased to learn that this is the very first SSCP-SF. All previous parties have occurred in New York City.

-Courtney E. Martin (founder & president) & John Cary (superman)


From the blog The Secret Society of Philanthropy - As the Oprah empire started rolling out advertisements for her latest adventure — a reality television show called “Oprah’s Big Give” — my inbox and voicemail were flooded by friends and family claiming indignantly, “Oprah stole your idea!” They were referring to Oprah’s new show, in which participants compete every week to give away large amounts of her money in a short amount of time — and in a way that will please a team of judges.

I wasn’t that mad. After all, it’s not the worst thing to be ripped off by the most successful communicator in the universe and, let’s face it, Oprah’s “idea people” probably weren’t lurking at KGB Bar listening to my friends and I tell stories about slipping $20 bills in young adult fiction books at the Brooklyn Public Library.

You see, two years ago, I started The Secret Society for Creative Philanthropy. Not so secret, but indeed creative, the project consisted of me giving ten of my friends one hundred dollars and inviting them to, in turn, give that money away. Then my whole motley crew gathered together at a bar, imbibed, and told the stories of their forays into guerilla giving (no competition involved). It was so fun in 2006 that we did it again in 2007, and the second time, some of the original recipients gave away their own hundreds. It’s become a bit like Pay It Forward, without the annoyance of Haley Joel Osment.

Intro video from 2007 of the Secret Society for Creative Philanthropy, held at Tom & Jerry’s.



Workshop NYC, an amazing group of graphic designers, created this video collage for the second meeting of the Secret Society for Creative Philanthropy. They were sponsored by Mr. Christopher Roan, the Vice President of the Society.