Reading this, I predict patronage will become popular:
Throughout history, the workings of money have rarely been understood. The Medici of Florence were among the few who understood all its functions clearly, and are, because of that, themselves worth understanding. They were not a family of old aristocracy, the kind that announces itself in inherited titles and sprawling estates. They were bankers before they were princes, a distinction that never vanished from the family’s identity. They rose in a city that was undergoing transition: a proud republic that would, over the course of a century, transfer its governance to the quiet, persistent influence of this single family. The mechanism of this transfer, the tool that transformed their commercial fortune into dynastic power, was patronage. Not the simple charity of the devout, nor the idle spending of the rich, but a calculated and ambitious investment in culture itself.
They understood with great clarity that cultural capital was convertible and could be exchanged for trust, loyalty, access, and further economic opportunity. Their patronage drew clients, allies, and talent into their orbit. […] The Medici invested enormous sums in religious art and architecture, effectively forging an alliance with the most powerful institution in Europe: the Church.
The world of 21st-century technology may seem distant from Renaissance Florence, yet the challenges and opportunities facing today’s entrepreneurs are analogous to those the Medici faced. How does one translate private wealth into lasting public good? How can recently acquired wealth earn social permission to impact and innovate? How can a center of economic power also become a celebrated center of culture? The Medicis’ approach, in its essential principles, offers a compelling blueprint. […] It visibly directs wealth to pro-social ends and generates loyalty and goodwill.
For tech leaders often criticized for a lack of civic engagement, strategic cultural patronage can demonstrate a commitment to humanistic values. Funding training in the arts, supporting public art inspired by history, or underwriting long-form journalism and analysis are all acts that generate social capital. They signal that the patron’s interests extend beyond technological disruption and profit to the health and vibrancy of their society.
The point is not the magnitude of the spending, but the strategic intent behind it: to create a synergy between economic success and cultural flourishing. For the Bay Area, an undeniable engine of technological innovation, but one with a sadly mixed record of social achievement, a conscious embrace of the Medicis’ model could be transformative.
Update 2026-01-03: Here we go!