Philanthropists Need Better Information
Philanthropists would benefit from the development of an online “marketplace” of information to help them make more informed decisions about which organizations to support, the president of The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation said in an essay accompanying the Foundation’s 2006 annual report, which was released this week.
Likening such a marketplace to the robust financial information available to private investors, Hewlett President Paul Brest said the creation of such online sites to provide accurate information about nonprofit organizations’ finances, strategies and accomplishments ultimately would help the best of them get the most support, increasing the effectiveness of philanthropy in solving problems.
“Regardless of whether you are attracted to the metaphor of social returns on investments,” Brest said in his essay, “it is disquieting that philanthropists have access to so little of the kinds of information that private investors rely on.”
August 14th, 2007 at 7:21 pm
Yes, the responsibility of effective mission statement work tends to still fall on the shoulders of the donor! Even with Congress’ recent push to get more oversight over American non profits (i.e. the new IRS tax form 990 ) - non profits are never required to be successful at their mission statement’s work. If the donor wants their money to get the most success for their buck, they must do their due diligence; research, and then check back for results after the donation is given and used.
I wrote about the same issue in my blog Seeking Grant Money Today. The post, “A Shift In Giving: Proactive Philanthropists Instead of Passive Donors” is at:
http://thegrantplant.blogspot.com/2007/03/shift-in-giving-proactive.html