Modern philanthropy was born in the early 20th century, with the birth of the Russell Sage Foundation. In 1907, the foundation was founded with a $10 million gift from Margaret Sage, the widow of Russell, a railroad tycoon. While its mission was broad (“the improvement of social and living conditions in the United States”), the foundation adopted an innovative formula of grant making and sustained involvement in its initiatives that ushered in a new model of institutional charity. But philanthropy faced criticism from the beginning. After Sage, John D. Rockefeller, the oil magnate, tried to get a foundation charter, only to face pushback from then-president Theodore Roosevelt. “No amount of charity in spending such fortunes can compensate in any way for the misconduct in acquiring them,” he said. The idea was that if there were not such tremendous inequality, there would be no need for charity at all. But that did not stop the founding of the Carnegie Corporation in 1911 and the Rockefeller Foundation in 1913. At the height of the Gilded Age, a time characterized by superficial glamour and deep corruption, these foundations, imbued with vague missions to improve general welfare, seemed benevolent enough. In fact, many have long histories of playing key roles in the advancement of causes like cancer research and urban development. And while they drew detractors, they eventually became a part of American society, and the fears that philanthropies would perpetuate inequality subsided.

THE GIVERS: MONEY, POWER, AND PHILANTHROPY IN A NEW GILDED AGE By David Callahan Knopf, 352 pp., $29

More than 100 years later, the face of philanthropy in America has changed. Contemporary philanthropists don’t look like the tycoons of the Gilded Age. In his new book The Givers: Money, Power, and Philanthropy in a New Gilded Age, David Callahan argues that today’s philanthropists are energized by data-driven solutions and seek social causes where they can have a high impact. They want change and they want it now. While their missions still tackle society’s biggest problems, their means of reaching their goals are more involved. They do not just dole out grants to community organizations, they create political wings to their foundations, influence policy, and steer conversations on a national level. Callahan examines how this new crop of the ultra-rich, with their foundations, pledges, and organizations, make up a new class of super-citizens whose wealth influences the political landscape—and what that could mean for American democracy.

In recent decades there has been a significant power shift between the government and large charitable institutions. Callahan attributes this shift to two major causes: the increasing wealth of the one percent, and the declining ability—and willingness—of the American government to provide public goods. Many of these new philanthropists have made their money from ambitious business and tech endeavors. Bill Gates is now worth about $84 billion. Mark Zuckerberg is now worth $54 billion. Warren Buffett is now worth $75 billion. The combined wealth of just some of these players is not only astronomical, but seems almost comical when compared to the increasing struggles of America’s working class.

Meanwhile, in the years since the 2008 financial crisis, most governments, including the U.S., developed more austere practices. An obsession with eliminating the deficit caught like a fever, and the federal government hacked away at its budget. Discretionary spending, which includes such basic services as early childhood education programs and environmental protection provisions, were cut. According to Callahan, the share of the budget going to these endeavors shrank to 3 percent of the GDP. With the government strapped for cash, philanthropies began to play a larger role in funding many of these programs on a local level. Today, it is difficult to think of a cause that has not been touched by philanthropy. From the education reform movement to cancer research, the fingerprints of the nation’s wealthiest individuals are everywhere.

The problem, of course, with outsourcing our public services to philanthropic organizations is that it shifts agency from the government, which is accountable to the people, to the private sector, which is not. As a result of this shift, we have entered the age of “super-citizen,” where instead of majority rule, a minority of the nation’s wealthiest have banded together to influence policy, and at times define the terms of national conversations before they ever reach voters. Philanthropists now influence policy and affect real change, all in the name of the public good. They have acquired this power just as ordinary citizens have lost it. Their amplified voices undermine the foundations of the democratic process, negatively affecting the rest of the nation’s civic participations.