Are Philanthropists Doing It Wrong?

Last week, financial writer Felix Salmon published a blog post entitled "Philanthropy: You're doing it wrong." His post particularly takes to task the practices and behaviors he sees in wealthier donors. Though Salmon doesn't use the term, much of his column pushes back against donor "hyperagency."  In The Modern Medici,  Boston College professor Paul Schervish described hyperagency as "the [...]

Donor-Advised Fund Growth

The Chronicle of Philanthropy's new issue showcases its annual survey of large managers of donor-advised funds (subscription required). The online version features searchable and sortable data for DAFs going back to 2002 - a philanthropy geek's dream. The Chronicle compiled data from 62 of the largest DAF managers, a mix of foundations connected to financial companies, [...]

Finding Common Ground, Valuing Different Views Article

Happy to have contributed to the National Center for Philanthropy Philanthropy webinar and resulting article on family foundations and family giving: FEATURE: Finding Common Ground, Valuing Different Views (April 2012 FGN). NCFP and GMA Foundations also led a session on managing diverse family opinions at the 2012 Family Philanthropy Conference. They sent this PDF of articles on enhancing [...]

The Nonprofit Quarterly's Rick Cohen has an insightful article today on donor-advised funds managed by financial services firms and other national providers. The article provides counterpoint to worries about those national DAFs raised by nonprofits and others. In his concluding paragraph, he writes: In contrast, DAFs are, dare we say it, an instrument toward democratizing [...]