Posted on Jun 29, 2012 by Richard Schwartz
Virtue's middlemen
Philanthropy - essentially the use of private money for public
good - is hardly a new idea. Like ice cream, however, it comes in
more and more exotic flavours. Over the past decade, several books,
among them Philanthrocapitalism (Green & Bishop)
and Creative Philanthropy (Anheier & Leat) have
sought to identify the trends that are pushing the process of
giving in new directions.
Magazines such as Alliance and Stanford Social Innovation Review
have for some years been reporting on the impact of social and
economic changes on philanthropic endeavour. There is a growing
recognition that sustainable giving requires a robust architecture
encompassing finance, distribution and measurement. Terms such as
strategic philanthropy and venture philanthropy, though distinct in
their approach, reflect this trend. The argument goes that many of
today's large donors, who have secured their personal fortunes at a
relatively young age, are keen to contribute to causes they value
while still alive and able to assess the impact of their
giving.
Philanthropy Management magazine was born out of
the recognition that to be sustainable, large-scale giving needs to
be effectively structured and monitored. This will often require
input from professional advisors. One chapter in
Philanthrocapitalism is called Virtue's Middlemen - a
succinct definition of where our focus lies. Philanthropy
Management aims to report on the financial, operational and
strategic services provided by banks, asset managers and other
professional advisors to foundations, endowments, family offices
and high net worth individuals to promote sustainable and effective
giving.
Put prosaically, Philanthropy Management addresses
what might be seen as the 'plumbing' of the industry - not usually
the focus of attention, but without which the taps don't open and
the water doesn't flow.