October 29, 2009 | Read Time: 2 minutes
The new book by Charles R. Bronfman and Jeffrey R. Solomon, The Art of Giving: Where the Soul Meets a Business Plan, is a how-to guide for giving but also offers an unusual perspective on fund raising.
While the two men are grant makers — Mr. Bronfman is chairman and Mr. Solomon chief executive of the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies, in New York — they have raised money for several causes. Most notably, they have garnered tens of millions of dollars for Taglit-Birthright Israel, a group that helps young Jews visit Israel.
During an interview, they describe how they make charitable pitches — and what pitches appeal to them.
“The best fund raisers don’t position themselves as fund raisers. They believe they are engaging in the mission of their organization,” says Mr. Solomon, who led several mental-health and social-service charities before becoming a grant maker.
“In some ways the professionalization of development has framed them as super salesmen, and that’s misguided,” he adds. “It really is a blessing to help somebody else do the right thing.”
How Not to Ask
As a billionaire philanthropist, Mr. Bronfman has been asked for money by all types of people, some not so tastefully.
In the book, he and Mr. Solomon write that “solicitors can get greedy.”
Mr. Bronfman recalls a major university, which he does not name, asking for a gift to its capital campaign. He offered $5-million, but the university balked, saying it would “destroy the campaign” by setting the bar too low for other big donors.
“Then I’ll make life easier for you by withdrawing my gift entirely,” Mr. Bronfman responded. The institution quickly backed off its earlier statement, the authors write.
Mr. Bronfman does empathize with the challenges of asking for money — and the occasional odd situations that arise with it.
In The Art of Giving, he discusses an awkward moment when he was wooing a prospective donor for Birthright. After a few meetings, he learned he wasn’t the only one doing the wooing; the possible contributor wanted Mr. Bronfman to date his niece.
“The expectation wasn’t apparent until after the niece showed up at the strangest places, including the donor’s home where we had been invited for breakfast very early one morning,” Mr. Bronfman and Mr. Solomon write. “No sparks flew, the niece returned home, and her uncle, the potential donor, was never heard from again.”
