Philanthropy is flourishing , but new donors are becoming much more business-like about the way thei

Friday, February 24, 2006

Excerpt from article

“But the problem lies far deeper. ?Foundation scandals tend to be about pay and perks, but the real scandal is how much money is pissed away on activities that have no impact. Billions are wasted on ineffective philanthropy,? says Michael Porter, a management guru at the Harvard Business School. ?Philanthropy is decades behind business in applying rigorous thinking to the use of money.? Mr Porter believes that the world of giving can be transformed by learning from the world of business. Many of the leaders of the new generation of philanthropists agree with him, so ?there is a big opportunity over the next 20 years to figure out how to make philanthropy effective.?

Many of the new philanthropists are well aware that traditional philanthropy is not sufficiently businesslike. They want to bring about a productivity revolution in the industry by applying the best elements of the for-profit business world they know. That has prompted the industry to adopt (and adapt) some of the jargon familiar from the world of business. Philanthropists now talk about ?social investing?, ?venture philanthropy?, ?social entrepreneurship? and the ?triple bottom line?. The new approach to philanthropy is ?strategic?, ?market-conscious?, ?knowledge-based? and often ?high-engagement?, and always involves maximising the ?leverage? of the donor’s money.”

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Source: Economist.com (link opens in a new window)