If you would like a copy of this in pdf, send me a contact and I’ll send it along. Copyright Lucy Bernholz. 2007. All Rights Reserved. Thank you for inviting me to consult with you today. My goal, my work, is all about helping philanthropic individuals and institutions do their are better. We bring data, research, analysis, strategy, and dimension tools to individuals who have put their resources where their personal passions and interests are.
The American philanthropic industry is one of the nation’s greatest inventions. Its diversity, independence, and range are unmatched. The system allows most of us to make decisions about how exactly we wish our charitable money to be used. It needs only that the money is accounted for, used ethically, and for genuine charitable purpose.
I frame the problems this way because philanthropy can be an odd beast – it is personal, fragmented, and private. It is also strategic, brand-oriented, and – in the aggregate – tremendous. Its most ample individuals – as measured by percent of world-wide web worthy of given – tend to be the indigent, not the rich.
I also believe that whatever causes individual or institutional philanthropists choose to support, they are doing so because they really want to make those ideas better. The definitions of “problems” and “better” range over the full spectral range of American diversity – political, racial, religious, gender, sexual orientation, and geographic. A foundation free of charge market education is really as legitimate as one for the preservation of Marxist theory. Foundations can support pro-life organizations plus they can support pro-choice organizations.
Though you almost certainly can’t find one which is working on both side of this issue. As the range of issues they can support is almost endless; the number of tools that philanthropists have at their disposal is rather small. They really have 7 things to bring to the table: money, knowledge, time, expertise, connections, patience, and independence. Using each one of these tools well, and making the most of them in combination, is the task for successful philanthropists.
Endowed foundations are usually considered in terms of only one of the tools – their money. So far everyone on this panel has mentioned how big is certain foundations as being relevant to the reason why they should do one thing or another. I’m significantly less of the size freak than others – I don’t equate bigness with performance.
- International bonds
- Save for midterm goals
- 2 New Cleaner $ 19,320
- Attractive site with selling capabilities
- Number of securities disposed of
- The authorities (Treasury Bills)
- Treasures on the planet, treasures in heaven – Mat. 6:19
I do equate strategy, knowledge, and position with effectiveness. Which explains why it makes sense that you won’t find one base assisting both pro-life and pro-choice activities using its grant funds. AFTER I consider the chance to use 100% of my resources to perform my goals versus using 5% the smarter choice is to use more of what I have available.
When I consider the chance to apply effective management concepts to both the collection of grant investments and the selection of asset investment choices it makes sense to do both. Actually, I stole that last idea from a certain investor called Warren Buffet. Buffett has often said, “I never made a good investment in a company with bad management.” He has utilized this for decades at Berkshire Hathaway.
Buffett also use these concepts to explain his choice to get his philanthropic dollars within an established foundation. Just what exactly will use endowment dollars to progress a social objective want to do with “good investments and good managers?” about everything Just. There are more than 38,000 public companies in which you can invest your cash. Obviously, we need some kinds of screens to whittle this true number down to a manageable portfolio.