Grantwriting, Grants and Philanthropic Institutions

I hope I'm not veering to far from the grant writing grant winning side when I tell you about another book that is rich with inspiration and instruciton. This is Joel L. Fleishman's The Foundation: A Great American Secret (2007). A survey of American philanthropy going back to Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller, and concluding with a look at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, this is much more than a historical guide to the great tradition of American giving. It is in fact, an analysis of the strategies the great philanthopists have used to assure that their money reaches those causes they hold dear, and that it is used to the greatest effect. This is surely informative to anyone who works with foundations and endowments because it puts a human mind and spirit behind the billions given in non-profit transactions every year. How many of us understand how Foundations come and go (or even that they do come and go)? How do they succeed and fail? More importantly (to the grant seeker), how do foundations select those causes that will have the greatest impact? This book will not only give you the logic behind such decisions, but it will put a human face on them.

Here is an intriguing portion - just a taste - of the last chapter entitled A Prophetic Epilogue: "The twentieth century is the era in which the large private foundation form was born, securely established and robustly replicated across the U.S. landscape. It was perhaps the first time in history that large and unrestricted pools of funds of private wealth had been created to benefit the public interest under independent management. That development signifies a major step, not yet fully recognized, in the evolution of democratic institutions and sociopolitical theory."

I borrowed this book, but I'm going to get my own copy. It's worth the cost and it will be worth the time to read it carefully.