September 9, 1999 | Read Time: 2 minutes
A new breed of donors is trying to reinvent the art of philanthropy, matching generosity with the no-nonsense rules of business, Wired magazine writes in its September issue.
The new donors, called “venture philanthropists,” believe “that simply giving money away is too passive and uninvolved,” Wired writes. “They want to lend business expertise, identify and support ‘social entrepreneurs’ hungry to shake up the non-profit world, and quantify their results. In short, they want to create a new kind of charity.”
The rallying cry of the new breed is that “checkbook philanthropy” — giving money to a charity even if its programs aren’t successful — falls short of the ideal, Wired says.
“Traditional philanthropy and grant making isn’t based on performance and results,” Vanessa Kirsch, founder of New Profit Inc., a Boston group that is raising money from entrepreneurs, told the magazine. “The mentality of foundations is, ‘This organization isn’t doing well, so let’s give them more money.’”
Some philanthropists told the magazine that they have reservations about the venture-philanthropy idea. Peter Hero, president of Community Foundation Silicon Valley, said that he questions whether “the donors have the sustained level of curiosity and involvement to ride through the periods of anxiety and ambivalence that all non-profits go through.”
Nonetheless, Wired said that Mr. Hero “seems to believe that over time, the radical stance of venture philanthropy will mellow.”
“A lot of the jargon will begin to melt away,” Mr. Hero said, adding that when venture philanthropists reach their 60s and 70s, they “will begin giving money the way Dave Packard did,” a reference to the co-founder of the Hewlett-Packard Company and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. “If people in the community are cold and hungry, you go out and help. You give them the money, and don’t have all this stuff about business plans and investments.”
The article will be available on line starting September 17 at http://www.wired.com.
