August 31, 2009 | Read Time: 2 minutes
After three years of writing one of the nonprofit world’s most popular blogs, Sean Stannard-Stockton is creating a new company to help wealthy donors with their giving — a venture that grew out of his online discussions.
Mr. Stannard-Stockton, who writes the Tactical Philanthropy blog and is also an opinion writer for The Chronicle, announced today that he has formed Tactical Philanthropy Advisers, in Burlingame, Calif.
The company will help families or individuals with at least $1-million in philanthropic assets. So far, he says, it has signed up four clients with roughly $35-million to award to charity.
Mr. Stannard-Stockton also has agreements with the Schwab Fund for Charitable Giving, Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund, Calvert Giving Fund, and Foundation Source to potentially create donor-advised funds or offer other administrative services for his clients.undefined
He says his business will stand out from other philanthropic consultants and community foundations by serving as a “trusted adviser” and having a more hands-on approach with its clients.
“Philanthropy consulting in the past has been, I’ll write up a strategic plan for you or here’s a 60-page report on environmental grant making,” he says. “If you put a 60-page report in front of high net-worth donors, they’re not going to read it.”
In addition to the company, he is starting an effort to get foundation officials to share what they have learned about giving with rich philanthropists, a connection Mr. Stannard-Stockton argues is sorely missing from the nonprofit world.
Mr. Stannard-Stockton will continue to work at Ensemble Capital, a wealth-management company he helped form, and, of course, write his blog.
“The business is almost a manifestation of the blog,” he says. “A lot of the initial clients and prospective clients I met through the blog.”
What do you think of the new venture?
