Philanthropy and an Obama Administration

This week Arabella Philanthropic Investment Advisors, a company that assists donors, had teleconferences to educate philanthropists about how changes likely to be advanced by the Obama administration should affect their giving to five causes: health, poverty, the environment, education, and global development.

For each phone call, the company gathered nonprofit experts to identify ways donors could collaborate with a new administration or support causes that it is likely to overlook.

• To improve health, the Obama administration is expected to expand programs to help the uninsured, especially children. While a notable goal, even with insurance, minorities and impoverished people often have other barriers to getting access to quality health care, such as transportation problems and a lack of education about disease prevention, said the speakers. Philanthropy could help reduce these “non-insurance barriers to health care,” said Irwin Redlener, president of the Children’s Health Fund, in New York. In addition, Mr. Redlener and others said that foundations and charities could do more to teach Americans how to navigate the sometimes Kafkaesque health care system.

• In education, the new president has said he will emphasize early childhood education, training teachers, making college more affordable, and helping school districts improve how they evaluate themselves. Philanthropy should support research efforts to find out what school programs are working and disseminate information about them, said Marshall (Mike) S. Smith, education program director for the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, in Menlo Park, Calif. Mr. Smith also recommended that grant makers examine how the Obama campaign organized people through social-networking Web sites, text messaging, and other technological communication; similar tools could be used to organize parents and others to advocate for changes in public education, he said. “This is not easy for the government to do,” he said. “We’re missing the boat if we don’t try to do this with education.”

• In foreign aid, Mr. Obama has pledged to double the budget for overseas assistance and set up new programs, such as one to educate women and girls worldwide. According to Arabella’s speakers, philanthropy should give to small charities on the ground in African villages and elsewhere. Often, the U.S. Agency for International Development and other agencies overlook these groups, said Ruth Levine, vice president for programs at the Center for Global Development, a think tank in Washington. “They’re the equivalent of biotech start-ups” doing innovative work, she said. Other experts suggested that donors should invest in small and mid-sized businesses in impoverished countries to create jobs, support programs that train women to be political leaders, and in nations where there are honest elected officials, work with state-controlled ministries instead of independent nonprofit groups.

• On environmental issues, the experts said an Obama administration is likely to propose efforts to reduce greenhouse gases, make the country more energy efficient, and support the development of alternative energy sources. Tom Steinbach, environment program director at the Hewlett Foundation, said Hewlett saw opportunities to connect environmental work with economic recovery plans. Others encouraged donors to try and make impoverished neighborhoods more energy efficient, which would fight climate change and produce a costs savings for low-income families.

• To fight poverty, the new president has proposed expanding the earned income tax credit, unemployment insurance, and support effective charitable programs. John E. Morton, managing director of the Pew Charitable Trusts, in Philadelphia, said now is the time for foundations to “think boldly” about antipoverty programs that may pay off three to five years from today. Under an Obama administration, he suggested philanthropies should influence federal policies to assist the poor. Robert Greenstein, executive director of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, in Washington, agreed, but encouraged donors to focus their advocacy efforts on state capitals. According to the center, in the next 2.5 years, states will be facing $200-billion to $250-billion in budget deficits, which could lead to big cuts in antipoverty programs at the state-level, he said.

Despite the expectations that Mr. Obama will make big moves in each of these areas, the experts admitted that the financial crisis will limit his ability to do as much as he promised during the campaign.

What’s more, several of them cautioned that despite the election of Mr. Obama, charity advocacy efforts need to continue

Jane Wales, president of the Global Philanthropy Forum, in San Francisco, warned that when Bill Clinton was elected president, foundations cut grant making for nuclear nonproliferation efforts believing — incorrectly — that the Clinton administration would handle the issue. Mr. Steinbach, of the Hewlett Foundation, echoed her comment: “We’re not in a situation that’s mission accomplished,” he said.

On its Web site, Arabella offers free audio files of the five sessions.

Read The Chronicle’s articles about Mr. Obama’s policies for the nonprofit world.