The Definition of Philanthropy

I was reading an article by H. Peter Karoff who is the founder of The Philanthropic Initiative (TPI). Check out www.tpi.org for more information on this organization which has been working with families and corporations working to realize deep social impact for 20 years. This specific article is called "The Long Distance Call". The reason why I am writing about the article is that Mr. Karoff includes a great definition of philanthropy that I would like to share. The author of this definition is Peter Goldmark, former President of The Rockefeller Foundation. His definition is as follows: "Philanthropy is the practice of applying the assets of knowledge, passion, and wealth to bring about constructive change."

Online Grantmaking

There are a number of service and software providers out there that I have been researching which support grantmaking. I believe the ideal way to go is online. For so many years online grantmaking was only available for larger foundations. This is no longer the case. There is no reason why a small foundation can't go completelty paperless. Two technologies stand out - Foundant and Common Grant Application. Both provide online grantmaking services for every step of the process including Letter of Intent, Application, Review, Grant Agreement and Project Evaluation. With online grantmaking, the decision process can be streamlined. These services offer rating and ranking systems for evaluators and board members. Some foundations worry that an online grants management process could be cumbersome for the grantee organizations. Grantseekers know that this is the future of submitting proposals and they have to figure out a way to represent themselves via an online environment. While there is less flexibility when answering questions, there is also a parallel movement to encourage grantmakers to get out there and meet people and visit the organizations which seek support. Check out www.foundant.com and www.commongrantapplication.com for more information.

Seeking Support from Women

After working for the same firm for 15 years, I am now experimenting on my own following the birth of our third child. It has been a great journey thus far and one that keeps guiding me towards women. Lately I have been thinking about the female influences on my career. When I was doing philanthropy work at SEI, I worked for a very strong-willed and smart woman. I learned a lot working for her and in thinking about the relationship we complimented each other really well. There have been other women, a generation older than me, who have also influenced me. These women broke down barriers - from wearing pants suits to performing successfully in roles typically held by men. My thoughts lead me to other moms in my community and in my circle. These are professional women who have figured out a way to stay engaged while being the main caregiver to children. My thoughts also lead me to my women friends who do not have children. I love their commitment to their work and to their personal relationships. I am drawn to their passion. In the Catholic faith, May is the month to honor Mary. We honor all mothers and mother figures on Mother's Day in May. May is also National Women's Health Care Month. We have all of these reasons to celebrate women, yet why do so many women feel invisible? The support is out there for the taking and the seeking. We need to remind ourselves of this every day.

Our Gift for Haiti

My husband and I made the decision to wait to make a more substantial contribution in support of post-earthquake Haiti. After a lot of reading and research, we've made the decision to support Partners In Health (PIH). PIH have been active in Haiti since 1985. Their model of care is working in the local communities to combat disease and poverty. At the time of the earthquake, PIH was operating 12 hospitals and employing over 4,000 people in Haiti. They were and continue to be uniquely qualified to provide much needed healthcare. Their ultimate goal is to work with local partners to rebuild Haiti's health and medical systems. We made the decision to give an unrestricted gift because we believe in the leadership and work of PIH. They are best to decide how funds raised are best deployed. For more information check out http://www.standwithhaiti.org/haiti. PIH is doing some great work in other emerging countries as well.

Council on Foundations Annual Conference

The Council on Foundations is hosting its annual conference this week. Thanks to the Internet, those of us who could not attend are able to read articles and summaries of the sessions. The keynote speaker today was Bill Somerville. He is the author of Grassroots Philanthropy and the President of the Philanthropic Ventures Foundation. In his speech, he called for reform in philanthropy. He believes that too much time is spent on small grants and that this is ineffective. There is a huge burden on nonprofits to go through a lengthy and time consuming application process. He told young people in the field, "We need to do better."

He challenges foundations to go paperless, to turn around grant requests in 48 hours and to give discretion to staff. Bill believes it is about trusting people. He had some pretty tough words around metrics and outcomes. I agree with him that funders need to ask the nonprofits how they measure success, but I do believe a lot of good work is being done around performance.

Given my background in investment management, I like this line the best. "We're investing in people who are worthy of that investment. You are all investment managers."

I found his speech inspirational. Check out the work of Philanthropic Ventures Foundation at www.venturesfoundation.org.

Back to the Books

Its been some time since I have written. I started classes to obtain the Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy designation. I am taking two classes. One is on Planned Giving and the other is on Impact. There are some interesting readings that are serving to be a nice refresher for me. Reading and attending class makes me think back to my days at the Fels Institute where I earned my Masters Degree. I was working at SEI developing the Philanthropy business and attending school full time. It was an indulgant time for me. I am certainly one of those people who enjoys learning in the classroom. There are opportunities to read and process. So often we read articles and books, but don't give ourselves the chance to process the information let alone apply the learning. I had a really unique opportunity to learn, to process and to apply. I think families are faced with this same challenge. Charitable gifting is time-consuming. You want to understand and learn about the issue. You want to investigate the nonprofit and its programs processing how those programs address the issue. And you want to apply your resources. For smaller foundations or for families with donor advised funds (both without staff) the joy in gifting could turn into a burden. I worked with a second generation family and they struggled with the work associated with gifting money in a thoughtful and consistent way without staff. This is why the support of a philanthropic advisor can be so important and really make the difference for a family.

Haiti Post-Quake Donor Conference

At the Haiti Post-Quake Donor Conference held on March 30, 59 United Nation member states, international institutions and NGO coalitions pledged nearly $10 billion towards rebuilding Haiti over the next 10 years.

There are three major concerns that came out of the conference. First, the $10 billion are just pledges. The money needs to come through and with Bill Clinton admitting he has only raised 30 percent of his orginal goal, it does call the reconstruction pot into question. Second, there is significant concern over the infrastructure in Haiti to support reconstruction. Conference attendees questioned the Haitian government that has historically been wasteful and corrupt. And finally, there is a lot of criticism on the ground in Haiti calling out the fact that local grassroots organizations are not being included in the decision-making about how funds should be deployed.

From what I have read, there still does not exist a plan to rebuild Haiti. Its really surprising to come to this point given all of the media attention and heavyweight support this catastrophy has received.