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Poor Economics, Ineffective Philanthropy

The very existence of a Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) is an acknowledgment both that there is also such a thing as ineffective philanthropy, and that it should be possible to tell the difference between good philanthropy and the other sort. Indeed, you might expect that this would be the main focus of the CEP’s […]

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Giving Gates C Minus

By providing much needed transparency to the giving marketplace, the Center for Effective Philanthropy has become one of the leading intermediaries in philanthrocapitalism. In particular, its “grantee perception reports”, which get those receiving money from a foundation to disclose (confidentially at the individual level) what they think of a donor and its processes, has helped […]

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Philanthropy under attack! Circle the wagons!

So, we are philanthropy’s “dangerous and destructive” assailants, accuses Phil Buchanan in his recent blog at Philanthropy Central, a new site from the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University. It seems that celebrating the wave of successful entrepreneurs and big corporations that are getting into giving back, what we call philanthrocapitalism, is a threat to […]

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Measure for Measure

“A laser-like focus on measuring impact”, is Ed Penhoet’s description of the philosophy of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, which he ran from 2004 to 2007. In a keynote conversation with Matthew on June 25th, he rejected criticism that the foundation, established in 2000 by one of the founder’s of Intel, was too obsessed […]