Grant Makers Shouldn’t Treat Charities as Contractors

To the Editor:

Two of my colleagues, Gara LaMarche, vice president and director of U.S. programs for the Open Society Institute, and Jessie C. Gruman, president and executive director of the Center for the Advancement of Health, have both recently written eloquent and impassioned articles for The Chronicle of Philanthropy. In Mr. LaMarche’s commentary, “When to Lead and When to Get Out of the Way,” in the June 24 issue, and “How Foundations Hurt Charities,” by Ms. Gruman (August 19), concerns have been raised about how the philanthropic field interacts with grantees, and I want to both congratulate them for putting those concerns on our agenda, and add my voice to theirs in spurring on the discussion.

We in the business of philanthropy should see ourselves not as the bearers of largess, but as the partners of those who are on the front lines and even the frontiers of our society, ensuring that our nation remains vital and that its people are given access to and benefit from all the resources and opportunities available in our country.

By supporting these efforts we are only doing our jobs — and our most important job is to ensure that nonprofits can do theirs. After all, civil society is not enriched nearly as much by foundations as it is by foundation grantees, those organizations and individuals who are doing the real work of improving the life of our nation — indeed, of people around the world. Foundations can convene, mobilize, invest in excellence, and recruit the participation of great minds, but they are not the real movers and shakers.

In fact, I often think it is incumbent on foundations to be mindful of the Hippocratic oath, when it comes to grantees: “First, do no harm.” We must be careful not to make the mistake of — even unintentionally — turning our grantees into contractors who carry out projects of our choosing.

Certainly, foundations have missions to fulfill, but so do grantee organizations, and the philanthropic community must always be respectful of, and responsible to, the need of the nonprofit organizations they partner with to maintain the integrity of the work they were created to carry out.

I hope that those of us who care deeply about the invaluable work done by the nonprofit sector and the irreplaceable services they provide to our society will continue to do everything we can to keep them strong, support their goals, and ensure that both the public and policy makers understand the importance of these organizations, which stand among the most steadfast pillars of our American democracy.

Vartan Gregorian
President
Carnegie Corporation of New York
New York