philanthropic strategy
How do we deploy the resources at our disposal as effectively as possible? What values and shared understandings should underlie our work? How can we help set the conditions for sustainability of the organizations we support? These and other questions that inform the development of grantmaking strategies are addressed in these pieces.
The Privilege and Peril of Becoming a Foundation CEO
May 2019
Not much has been written about the specific challenges of serving as a foundation CEO. This was coauthored with Julia Lopez, one of my all-time favorite foundation CEOs upon the occasion of her retirement at the College Futures Foundation. It originally appeared in the PhilanTopic blog in May 2019.
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May 2019
Not much has been written about the specific challenges of serving as a foundation CEO. This was coauthored with Julia Lopez, one of my all-time favorite foundation CEOs upon the occasion of her retirement at the College Futures Foundation. It originally appeared in the PhilanTopic blog in May 2019.
View PDF
Transformative Leadership in Action
March 2012 A report on a series of conversations conducted with grantees and friends of the Compton Foundation to explore how its new mission and vision statement might set the stage for the next phase of its grantmaking and other programming. View PDF |
A Defining Moment in Health Philanthropy
March 2010 This piece was commissioned by Grantmakers in Health as one of a set of theme essays for its 2010 Annual Meeting. My charge was to provoke discussion on the topic of foundation risk taking. View PDF |
The Ecology of Community Change
November 2008 This piece was invited by The Foundation Review to synthesize issues raised by the papers included in its inaugural issue on "Comprehensive Community Initiatives." It didn't make the cut in the journal for space reasons, but sections of it were used to stimulate an online conversation on their blog. View PDF |
The Teenage Pregnancy Prevention Initiative: Accomplishments, Challenges, and Lessons Learned
October 2007 The TPPI was a $60 million, ten-year initiative of The California Wellness Foundation that achieved some significant results. This commissioned piece was designed to complement the formal evaluation. It examines the lessons learned from a grantmaker perspective. Most are relevant for any complex undertaking of this sort regardless of topic area. View online |
CCI Lessons Learned from the IT Grantmaking Program
August 2006 The Community Clinics Initiative is a multi-year partnership between Tides and The California Endowment. This piece summarizes some of the lessons learned from its grantmaking in Health Information Technology, although it is also applicable to any foundation grantmaking initiative. View PDF |
Sustainability
February 2004 Most grantmakers would contend that they are not in the sustainability business. They are catalysts for innovation and sustainability is the work of others. But it can be argued that as philanthropic assets have increased that foundations need to take a fresh look at the sustainability challenges confronted by their grantees. This piece was an invited address to a conference of grantmakers and nonprofit executives in Buffalo. View PDF |
Terrance Keenan Leadership Award Acceptance Speech
February 2002 This is a meditation on the paradox of "less is more" and ways in which it applies to the work of philanthropy. It was my acceptance speech when receiving the Terrance Keenan Leadership Award in Health Philanthropy at the 2002 annual meeting of Grantmakers in Health in New York City. View PDF |
Reflections on Sustainability
February 2002 The first piece I wrote on the topic of sustainability from a grantmaker's perspective. It is part of The California Wellness Foundation's Reflections series. View PDF |
Reflections on Strategic Grantmaking
November 2000 This piece was written to share some lessons learned from the startup of The California Wellness Foundation with other new health foundations. I contend that there is no single "strategic" approach to grantmaking, and discuss a spectrum of strategies that different foundations have chosen to guide their work. It is also part of The California Wellness Foundation's Reflections series. View PDF |
Reflections on Our First Initiatives
Most of our grantmaking in the first years of The California Wellness Foundation was centered on five multi-year initiatives. This piece was written midstream in those initiatives to sketch out some initial lessons we were learning about this style of grantmaking. It was the first in The California Wellness Foundation's Reflections series. View PDF |
Partnership and Leadership
June 1998 Partnership is one of the most frequently used terms in philanthropy, yet effective partnerships require a good deal of effort and patience on the part of all parties. This piece was originally written as an internal memo for the Board of The California Wellness Foundation to stimulate discussion on the various forms of philanthropic partnerships and to articulate some principles for our work with others. View PDF |
The TCWF Way
October 1996 What are the core values and shared understandings that should inform our work in philanthropy? This piece was prepared as a discussion starter for our first staff retreat during my time at The California Wellness Foundation. It is a personal statement and does not represent the official views of the Foundation or its staff. View PDF |