Review of a book by one of the most astute observers of the world of philanthropy, and the strategy of giving.
An excerpt.
The Pitfalls of Professional Grant Making
Outlining a strategy for innovative, values-driven giving
Albert Keith Whitaker September 25, 2006
A friend of mine is a "Boston Trustee" at one of our oldest downtownlaw firms, meaning that for the last few decades a small number of families have entrusted their most important financial and sometimes familial matters to him and his firm. When it comes to charitable trusts, however, his firm has provided him with the advice of a number of philanthropic experts, who help define the grantmaking process, evaluate proposals, and subtly but not-too-subtly let him know which grants they think wisest. He, in turn, has delegated much of his charitable role to them, while at the same time teasing them gently as "the mandarins."
The complexity of contemporary finances and law probably makes this arrangement a necessity for my friend. He is involved closely in a wide variety of charitable endeavors, but he is not trained as a philanthropist (if such a thing is possible). Rather, he is a humanist, and as such, he seems to have the broadness of mind and of judgment not usually connoted by the term "mandarin."
Peter Frumkin has a similar broadness of mind and judgment, deepened by a profound knowledge of the literature of philanthropy. So as I read his book, I thought about how it might help people like my friend, people who as donors or as friends to donors are struggling with the growing problems in this field, such as newly declared professionalism and specialization, and with the age-old problems of effectiveness and accountability and "charity versus philanthropy."
