Frumkin [from SocialEdge]:

Large private foundations do not seem to embrace this notion of scale as readily as individuals, though there are some notable exceptions to this. Picking any single nonprofit organization as the one that will be taken to scale may appear unfair and capricious. It implies that a single donor should be able to disturb the competitive landscape and decide who wins and loses in the nonprofit arena.  While this may be precisely what an individual would like to achieve, few foundations want to be perceived as inequitable and heavy-handed. As a consequence, they shy away from tipping the scales completely in favor of one organization over another. Moreover, foundations may be less likely to bring an organization to scale because their interests are not in the organizations they fund per se, but in the specific programs and outcomes which these organizations deliver.  The foundations have priorities that overlap somewhat with the agendas of nonprofit organizations. When these priorities change, funders can and do find new organizations.

Interesting points. When foundations really get the ownership bug, they do a Pew. In one way foundations are like venture capitalists [a tired metaphor, I'm aware]; they want to share the investment risk. I think foundations are becoming less reticent to "disturb the competitive landscape," and to let the nonprofit marketplace play itself out. I see fewer missions to rescue nonprofits [excluding those close to home and soul] that aren't performing. Frumkin's right, though, that foundations' priorities, as currently defined, don't involve helping their grantees grow strategically. That's unfortunate.

WaPo:

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and former president Bill Clinton have operated a family charity since 2001, but she failed to list it on annual Senate financial disclosure reports on five occasions.

As had been widely blogged, Washington Post reporter John Solomon has perfected the art of taking a relatively minor story [or nonstory] and hyping it to earth-shattering levels. Note to the idiots who run the Post and front-paged this "story": It's a fucking foundation that gives hundreds of thousands of dollars away to charities. I'm sure all that cash would've brought so much ill will the Clintons' way that they purposely didn't disclose it. And, as Josh Marshall points out, the Clinton Family Foundation's tax returns have, as required by the IRS, been publicly available since its inception.

Next up for tomorrow's edition of the Post: Hillary's eighth-grade report card not signed by parents and returned to teacher

Tactical Philanthropy on pain-in-the-ass givers:

Somehow I keep picturing a waiter in a restaurant telling a customer who is complaining about the meal, “Sir, if you can’t complain nicely, I’m not going to serve you any more”. And then the diner leaving the restaurant and never coming back.

Can we come up with some sort of metric that measure the ROI on the interactions with such donors?

Three phone calls from a donor in one week complaining about how their name wasn't in large enough type on the donor recognition plaque: -$2,000.

Two outbursts during a donor gathering about feeling "marginalized": -$2,350.

Four threats to "pull my generous, heart-felt support for this damn organization" if junior doesn't get that marketing internship: -$3,700?

Shoving donor into their Jaguar and telling them never to come back: priceless.

Foundations do the government's job:

Seven philanthropies are announcing today that they will contribute more than $4.3 million to help treat uninsured workers and residents who developed serious illnesses after the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center.

This, of course, is the "traditional philanthropy" conservatives love. When you've got charities available to paint over capitalism's flaws, your belief in the stock market as the arbiter of right and wrong can remain firmly intact.

There's no entry for "philanthropy" in the exciting new Conservapedia, a conservative counterpunch to that left-wing online conpiracy known as Wikipedia. Here's all you need to know:

Conservapedia is an online resource and meeting place where we favor Christianity and America. Conservapedia has easy-to-use indexes to facilitate review of topics. You will much prefer using Conservapedia compared to Wikipedia if you want concise answers free of "political correctness".

Let me offer up an entry for "philanthropy" that complies with Conservapedia's philosophy:

Philanthropy is an activity conducted primarily by Christians who believe "God helps those who help themselves." Examples of good philanthropy would be a cash gift to the Hudson Institute's scholars program. Specifying that your gift go directly toward the Institute's research on the War on Terror, under the watchful direction of Lewis Libby, would be a keen example of what is called "targeted philanthropy." Another great example would be even a small gift, say given by someone who just started working at McDonald's, to the American Enterprise Institute's research on why the minimum wage is bad. Talk about helping yourself!

Most philanthropy in America is conducted by individuals giving to their local houses of worship, but be skeptical of any giving by those of non-Christian faiths. A small percentage of philanthropy in America comes from what are called "foundations"; this is something of an oxymoron given most foundations are left-leaning, and thus seek to tear down, rather than build up, America's foundation, which we all know is based on conservative evangelical Christianity.

Click to submit.

UPDATE: Conservapedia has apparently been swallowed by submissions mocking it. Shame.

WaPo:

The Pennsylvania Senate was not Fumo's only source of OPM, according to the indictment. In 1991 he founded a nonprofit organization called Citizens' Alliance for Better Neighborhoods, and over the next decade he allegedly steered over $30 million in state funds and corporate grants to the group. Then, according to the indictment, he used it as his personal piggy bank.

The Citizens' Alliance allegedly paid $250,000 for Fumo's political polls. It allegedly bought a $36,000 Chrysler minivan for Fumo. It also allegedly bought a Jeep Wrangler, a Dodge Caravan, a Lincoln Navigator and a Cadillac Escalade for the use of Fumo and his cronies. Plus a bulldozer for Fumo's farm and $75,000 for various items for Fumo's various homes, including $3,929 worth of "mosquito magnets," $171 worth of tiki torches and, for $6,500, 19 Oreck vacuum cleaners.

OPM=other people's money=corporate grants. Nice.

Jeff Brooks makes some interesting observations about how nonprofits should -- and should not -- advertise to potential donors. I disagree on one point: We need much, much more nudity in nonprofit advertising.