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Articles in Philanthropy

Reflecting on Risk Taking and Ambition through an NGO Lens
June 4, 2009 – 12:02 pm | One Comment

by Sherine Jayawickrama
 
Steven Lawry’s five-part series on U.S. Philanthropy’s Shrinking Amibition has provided a lot of interesting food for thought.  His analysis and arguments have caused me to reflect on how this set of issues …

U.S. Philanthropy’s Shrinking Ambition, Part V: The Paradoxes of Philanthropic Effectiveness
May 26, 2009 – 9:47 am | 2 Comments

By Steven Lawry
In Part IV of this series I argued that large, conventional foundations, staffed by highly-qualified and increasingly specialized professional staff, are over-specifying the solutions to poverty in-house and, in the process, are increasing …

U.S. Philanthropy’s Shrinking Ambition, Part IV: The Importance of Grantee Leadership
May 19, 2009 – 12:35 pm | No Comment

by Steven Lawry
I argued in Part II of this series that foundations as private organizations are freer than public funders to get behind new and untested ideas for reducing poverty that show promise. Foundations are …

U.S. Philanthropy’s Shrinking Ambition, Part III: The Measurement Muddle
April 10, 2009 – 12:38 pm | One Comment

by Steven Lawry
One of the principal criticisms proponents of so-called new philanthropy direct toward old, or traditional large philanthropies is that old philanthropies, in assessing the merits of grant proposals, don’t require prospective grantees to …

U.S. Philanthropy’s Shrinking Ambition, Part II: Confusion about Accountability
April 2, 2009 – 2:00 pm | No Comment

By Steven Lawry
I am arguing in this four-part series that US foundations working internationally are not making full use of their freedom to support innovation and help people claim new rights—and that progress toward reducing …

U.S. Philanthropy’s Shrinking Ambition
March 25, 2009 – 10:50 am | 5 Comments

by Steven Lawry
Independent US foundations working internationally have advantages that other kinds of donors, such as the World Bank and USAID, generally don’t. As private funders, foundations are better able to bear risk on behalf …

Changing Voices
February 2, 2009 – 3:29 pm | One Comment

The blog has been silent for a while as we’ve undergone a transition at the Hauser Center.  I’m delighted to announce that Sherine Jayawickrama, who’s served in a variety of leadership positions with CARE USA …

FORGE & transparency: How radical do we want to be?
November 25, 2008 – 3:06 am | 7 Comments

Philanthropic bloggers have been abuzz with Kjerstin Erickson’s decision to post the details a few weeks back about a funding crisis that could put her NGO, FORGE, out of business.  After Sean Stannard-Stockton described this …

The Shrinking Ambitions of Aid
November 15, 2008 – 12:37 am | One Comment

(I originally posted this on Tuesday 11/11/08 and it mysteriously disappeared, so I’m reposting.  Unless there’s been foul play from a new philanthropist acolyte, I can only chalk it up to a site glitch.  Apologies …

Private aid: Boon or Burden?
October 18, 2008 – 12:10 am | No Comment

A continuing theme on which I’ve commented several times (links here, here, and here) concerns the increasing share of private resources in development aid.  Sam Worthington, the president and CEO of InterAction, the leading coalition …