Popularity Should Not Guide Foundations

To the Editor:

The recent article on a trend to seek public input on grant making (“Casting Ballots for Charity,” July 26) and the subsequent response by Cynthia Gibson (“Does the Public Deserve a Voice in Foundation Grant Making?,” Letters, September 6), I believe, miss clear issues in the character and role of philanthropy.

There is a clear distinction between public and private foundations. Public charities and foundations indeed have a mandate, morally and legally, to consider as many stakeholders as possible in decision making.

A healthy public charity must constantly weigh the balance among competing claims for publicly raised dollars — and as much as possible be true to its history, legacy, mandate, field of service, and capacity.

Any of us who have sat on boards of such organizations know that there is usually a struggle with that balance and always fewer resources than would be ideal.

But in the case of private philanthropy as reflected in private foundations, I would suggest that there is a different mandate.

Their very strength is that they are not subject to the same fads and pressures of public foundations. It allows them to take risks, innovate, adapt, change directions, and support interests that in fact may not be the ones the “public” might endorse. And, yes, it also allows them to make mistakes, fund foolishly, and even selfishly and with arrogance.

There is a transparency of a sort (such as tax forms posted on GuideStar) and there is accountability to act within the law and ethics of good grant making.

By all means, should some corporate or independent foundations choose to test the waters of popular input, they are to be congratulated.

But it would be shortsighted and counterproductive to encourage a system that might lead to the diminution of society’s risk capital, which is what a healthy, independent, private foundation system represents.

Richard A. Marker
Senior Fellow
George H. Heyman, Jr. Center for Philanthropy and Fundraising
New York University
Co-Principal
Marker Goldsmith Advisors
New York