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report from the field:
Strategic Philanthropy
Many people feel overwhelmed and intimidated when confronting the philanthropic arena. They see
billionaires making multi-year, multi-million-dollar grants, and they feel that their own relatively modest
contributions simply won’t matter—won’t “make a difference,” or “make the world a better place,” or even
do enough to “help others.”
We all want to make wise, thoughtful, and effective gifts to worthy charities, but if we don’t have millions of
dollars at our disposal, can we still be strategic philanthropists?
Strategic philanthropy may be roughly defined as “charitable giving with a deliberate, targeted, long-term
perspective, to achieve tangible results.” Notice that quantity of dollars is not mentioned; there is nothing
about a large, staffed foundation with a multi-million-dollar grant budget. Can everyday donor-investors be
strategic philanthropists? Yes they can. With a bit of extra thought, planning, insight, and the right tools, you
too can practice strategic philanthropy.
For convenience, I have divided the strategizing process into five relatively easy steps:
| Step 1: | Determine your personal or family budget, and within this budget set aside a specific amount
for your philanthropy.
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| Step 2: | Consider what general subjects, fields, or issues you want to address. Think about
distributing your investments across the basic fields (e.g., the environment, arts and culture,
human services, international) and look within each of those fields for your own special
interests. That way you will achieve breadth and depth of philanthropy—a “balanced
portfolio.”
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| Step 3: | Consider other factors of interest: geographic range (e.g., national, regional, state, local);
population served (e.g., gender and stage of life, ethnicities, people with disabilities, prisoners),
as well as size, age, or type of organization.
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| Step 4: | Consider what type of support you would like to provide—program grant, seed money,
general operating support, endowment funding, or capacity building.
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| Step 5: | Use reference materials like the Catalogue indices to identify particular organizations that fit
your criteria and allow you to implement your philanthropic vision.
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The result of this exercise will be quite impressive—a thoughtful, clearly defined, philanthropic investment
plan that describes and expresses who you are—your values, knowledge, view of the world, and hopes for
the future. This should be a work in progress, always open for refinement and strengthening as you learn
more and gain more experience. Philanthropy is self-development and continuing education, as well as your
own personal contribution to making the world a better place.
Julia Toulmin
Managing Director, Philanthropic Advisors LLC, Goulston & Storrs
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