February 12th, 2013
This blog was previously published as a guest post on the GrantCraft blog on February 5th.
I've been exploring the issues facing "next gen" donors for over a decade, ever since I began getting involved in philanthropy after discovering as a 22-year old graduate student that my family had a small foundation. That's why I was so happy when Sharna Goldseker from 21/64 and Michael Moody from the Johnson Center approached me as they were beginning research for what...
January 2nd, 2013 Over the last two weeks, one conversation that came up repeatedly is the question of New Year's resolutions. In particular I've been asked for ideas about giving-related resolutions. If you haven't made a resolution yet (neither have I...I think anytime in early Jan works!), here are a couple I've come up with that have gotten good reactions:
Connect your giving to your spending - What if you give a dollar for every $10 you spend, or even 1:1 if you...
October 17th, 2012 "Anonymity Part 2" will be coming next week, but after an interview with Money Magazine I felt compelled to share a suggestion I often offer about how to be more fulfilled BY your giving when you don't want to spend a lot of time ON your giving.
At Bolder Giving, we work to inspire people of all backgrounds to think about how to "Give More. Risk More. Inspire More." You can get inspired reading the stories of over 100 Bold Givers in our story library,...
September 9th, 2012 A topic that comes up regularly in conversations through Bolder Giving is the issue of anonymity. It came up again just two weeks ago when I was talking with my mom - she noted that while my grandparents were very generous, my grandmother Mimi was also very private in her giving. Rooted in Jewish teachings about the spiritual value of charity being tied to anonymity, most of her giving was unknown even among her friends and family. ""So," my mother asked me, "would you have asked Mimi to...
July 10th, 2012 They say big changes come in threes, well we've had change times two in the past 6 weeks! We kicked off the summer with more transitions than we've seen in two years, some exciting and some bittersweet.
First was the long-expected but still bittersweet transitions of Anne and Christopher, our founders. Anne shifted out of her staff role as Senior Advisor as of July 1st, but will remain on the board. At the same time, Christopher shifted from board member to board member emeritus. It...
July 3rd, 2012 Two recent magazine articles have left me thinking about the times when giving manifests as the pursuit of redemption. They've led me to ask friends how we can tell when generosity is "pure" vs. when its driven by a desire for forgiveness for past misdeed or "sins." And in the latter case, when can generosity lead to forgiveness - socially, morally, spiritually? Can redemption be obtained for every misdeed? How do you decide if an act of generosity merit forgiveness and a fresh start? Do...
May 14th, 2012
A friend of mine just sold her company and asked me a couple weeks ago if she should set up a foundation to manage her giving. It's a question that comes up regularly, as most people don't realize there are more options than giving from their checkbook/portfolio or creating a foundation.
Honestly, when I hear the question I cringe a bit...because it's not the question I wish people would start with. As I said to her and others, the first thing I encourage people to ask is...
May 7th, 2012 Our Bold Givers work on the most fascinating projects!
One recent inspiring example - the Other Worlds Are Possible Giving Circle. Co-founded by Bold Giver Laurie Emrich several years ago, they are preparing to launch their third cycle and are seeking new members.
In its first two cycles, the circle distributed nearly $240,000 and coordinated a fascinating series of calls in which activists from the Global South conversed with one another, gave their perspectives on their own...
April 4th, 2012 The last few weeks, I've been thinking a lot about the turning points in my giving journey, and in the journeys of other Bold Givers. When did we decide to give big? Why? The reasons are complicated and unique for each person, but one common thread is simple - someone asked.
Last month, our featured Bold Giver Jim Whitton talked about his "ah ha" moment during a Hunger Project conference where he committed to a $100,000 gift, a huge jump personally and one that transformed him and...
January 15th, 2012 As originally posted on www.zocalopublicsquare.org
Philanthropy in and of itself is not powerful. It is simply a conduit through which individuals with financial resources (a key source of power in society, economics and politics) manifest their desires and goals through their giving. So while I share some of the concerns and hopes for philanthropy raised by Olivier Zunz in his new history of philanthropy and by National Center for Responsive Philanthropy in its "Philanthropy's... |