This website is designed for individuals who want to do a better job of using their own resources (money, time, expertise) and for those who are employed as philanthropy professionals or advisors. It is primarily constructed to help improve the practice of philanthropy. But it also contains material for those who are working to change philanthropy.
The materials were designed to work together and apart. So you can choose the parts you’re most interested in and combine them in whatever way you find most helpful. Here are a few illustrations of the uses we have imagined:
- If you have limited time, go straight to the Your Choices section, whether you are an individual philanthropist or a professional staff person. Choosing Your Path: Principles for Seizing the Opportunity Ahead is a summary of how to apply the ideas in our final report. It contains several tools to use to improve your strategies.
- If you work in a foundation or philanthropic network engaged in a more in-depth review of strategy, consider using parts of this website to stimulate your thinking, or as a pre-reading for a board meeting or retreat. U.S. Philanthropy by the Numbers is a fun and quick overview of the basics many people don’t understand. The New Ecology of Social Benefit and the worksheet that accompanies offer an opportunity to step back from philanthropy and look at the forces shaping your choices. And The Seeds of Change provides a look at the patterns emerging as philanthropists adapt and respond to the changing ecology.
- If you are involved in philanthropic education or designing a conference—for individual donors, board members or staff—consider using some or all of our nine short scenarios in Philanthropy Tomorrow for a short workshop or training session. They are designed to make it fun to think through the consequences of decisions we are making today. Or consider using the template "Putting All the Pieces Together;" it was created to help you apply many of the ideas we discuss on this website.
- If you are looking for new ideas, the best place to start is with The Tour of Innovation in Philanthropy an online learning journey of the ways philanthropists are experimenting with alternatives to traditional practices.
- If you want a quick overview of our findings, download the executive summary of our final report, Looking Out for the Future. This can send you next to the area that interests you the most. The structure of the website matches the structure of the final report.
- If you are interested in reforming the practice of philanthropy, go to our Cultivating Change section and download our working paper on the subject. Don’t miss The Tour of Innovation in Philanthropy that walks through how practitioners are reforming philanthropy by changing their practice—or our scenarios that suggest how some of the reforms may play out.
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