June 10, 2004 | Read Time: 1 minute
What California Donors Want: In Their Own Voices, by Deanne Stone and Jan McElwee, presents the results of interviews with 32 California philanthropists, focusing in particular on their wants and needs as donors. Ms. Stone, a freelance writer who specializes in family foundations and family businesses, and Ms. McElwee, principal of a philanthropy consulting company in Los Angeles, say the respondents have several objectives, including: to look for clear financial and legal information about different charitable options and to learn about “best practices” in deciding how much to give, how often, and to whom. The authors also suggest ways in which donor networks and community foundations can help philanthropists, including inviting minority-group donors to meet members of local donor-support groups and producing Internet and print resources for philanthropists, lawyers, and financial advisers. The report was supported by a grant from the James Irvine Foundation, in San Francisco.
Publisher: National Center for Family Philanthropy, 1818 N Street N.W., Suite 300, Washington, D.C. 20036; (202) 293-3424; fax (202) 293-3395; http://www.ncfp.org; 84 pages; $20; available free on center’s Web site.
