Requestioning,Reimagining,and Retooling Philanthropy

Abstract

The quest for effectiveness in American philanthropy is a work in progress with inconclusive results. The best way to answer the question of how philanthropy can improve its chances for creating important social impacts is by asking a series of questions.Foundation leaders who question their institutional strategies and assumptions are best positioned to improve their own institutions and the wider field. Based on his own work as a foundation president, the author reflects on a series of critical questions—about theory of change, grantee-grantor relations, and institutional change—that prompted a radical redesign in the foundation’s strategy and practices.