Philanthropy Advisers See Rise in Business

As the number of charities grows, donors are hiring advisers to identify causes, locate worthy groups, and make sure their gifts are well spent—paying the consultants up to $3,000 a day, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Although some nonprofit officials say that it can be difficult to convince donors and foundations that they should pay fees of up to 15 percent of their gift to a consultant, adviser businesses have seen real growth over the past few years. Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, in New York, had a staff of 32 employees in 2006, up from 15 in 2002. That group helped its donors give away $137-million, up from $30-million in 2002.

“We have been accustomed to think that philanthropy ought to be free,” says Tim Ogden, a top official at Geneva Global, a philanthropy-advising group. “The fact is that giving money away is hard.”

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