Thinking About Philanthropy…and It’s a Wonderful Life
Wednesday, May 20th, 2009David Grant, President and CEO
I recently spent an afternoon with the Board and staff of another foundation. They were planning to “spend down” the foundation’s several hundred million dollars and were planning backwards from twenty years out, thinking about their legacy.
What would make a foundation great as it closed its doors, and in whose eyes?
We are tempted to focus on the “what” – the outcomes and impacts of a foundation’s philanthropy. Maybe success would be a library, or laboratory, or theatre with the foundation’s name on it for years to come. Maybe success would be a program that becomes so widely known and accepted in society that no one remembers where it came from – a Head Start or a 9-1-1. Or maybe success would be the eradication of a disease, where ironically it is the absence of something that becomes an important legacy.
The “what” is critically important. But just as critically important is the “how.” (more…)
