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The Art of Giving: Where the Soul Meets a Business Plan
An honest assessment for how to determine your individual relationship with charitable giving in today's world From world-renowned philanthropists Charles Bronfman and Jeffrey Solomon of the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies comes a comprehensive guide on how to be a canny, street-smart, effective philanthropist, regardless of your income level. It is also a perfect companion for nonprofit program and development executives who would like to introduce donors to their work and their organizations. Despite their critical importance to philanthropy, donors have few resources for solid information about making their gifts-deciding what type of gift to give, how to structure it, the tax implications, what level of follow-up and transparency they should ask for and expect, and countless other complexities. This book fills that vacuum and helps you gain a special understanding of philanthropy as a business undertaking as well as a deeply personal, reflective process. Drawing on decades of experience, the authors offer a fresh, enlivening approach to the nonprofit enterprise that, too often, is undervalued and thought of as the province of the burnt-out and the overwhelmed. Along with its many candid insights and memorable anecdotes, The Art of Giving also offers instruction on how to create a business plan for giving that works for you.
- GenresNonfictionBusiness
288 pages, Hardcover
First published September 18, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 17, 2018
Some useful info but mostly a book for billionaires 🤷🏻♀️
January 9, 2018
An insightful book from two philanthropic experts that outlines the basic components of thoughtful philanthropy. As the book notes, philanthropy done well (and effectively) is like any other endeavor - it requires inquiry, measurement and a sense of professionalism in approach to be successful.
Part philanthropic primer, part social-psychological analysis, the book gives budding philanthropists the tools not only to understand the business of philanthropy, but a way to understand themselves and their philanthropic motivation.
As with all matters of the heart, understanding what motivates one to act isn’t enough to assure effectiveness and the authors provide simple, straightforward tools for designing successful philanthropy at any level.
It is a great introductory guide for anyone interested in philanthropy and the guidance on successful outcome measurement (still a relative rarity in the non-profit world) is particularly welcome and useful.
I would highly recommend this book for anyone interested either in a career in the nonprofit sector or in becoming more involved in philanthropy. It is a great place to begin.
Part philanthropic primer, part social-psychological analysis, the book gives budding philanthropists the tools not only to understand the business of philanthropy, but a way to understand themselves and their philanthropic motivation.
As with all matters of the heart, understanding what motivates one to act isn’t enough to assure effectiveness and the authors provide simple, straightforward tools for designing successful philanthropy at any level.
It is a great introductory guide for anyone interested in philanthropy and the guidance on successful outcome measurement (still a relative rarity in the non-profit world) is particularly welcome and useful.
I would highly recommend this book for anyone interested either in a career in the nonprofit sector or in becoming more involved in philanthropy. It is a great place to begin.
November 25, 2012
Good book about philanthropy from the donor's perspective.
There is a good passage about deciding whether to whether to address consequences or causes with one's philantropic efforts....here's the parable:
two men see a series of people drowning in the river. One responds by jumping in to save each person. The other races upstream to try to keep any more people from falling in.
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How to measure success:
1) accessibility: combination of outreach and facilitation in order to draw in the highest possible percentage of population you seek to serve.
2)acceptability: are the services you provide good; well-received; feedback from population served.
3) outcomes: after objectives are established, set up measures to determine if you have acheived them.
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idea of an ethical will is interesting....
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lack of civic knowledge - the awareness of how society is legally bound together by the US constitution
There is a good passage about deciding whether to whether to address consequences or causes with one's philantropic efforts....here's the parable:
two men see a series of people drowning in the river. One responds by jumping in to save each person. The other races upstream to try to keep any more people from falling in.
###############
How to measure success:
1) accessibility: combination of outreach and facilitation in order to draw in the highest possible percentage of population you seek to serve.
2)acceptability: are the services you provide good; well-received; feedback from population served.
3) outcomes: after objectives are established, set up measures to determine if you have acheived them.
#############
idea of an ethical will is interesting....
###############
lack of civic knowledge - the awareness of how society is legally bound together by the US constitution
August 2, 2012
There are many excellent suggestions about giving in this book. Almost all examples are from a Jewish Toronto/New York tradition, because that is the basis of all the authors' experiences. A few more outside examples may have helped me even more. Regarding the concern about avoiding donations to overhead they say, "how would you like it if you were not allowed to spend a penny of your salary on housing or utilities?" In other words, try to avoid restrictions on gifts that make it more difficult for the nonprofit to fulfill its mission.
April 3, 2013
That was rude! The webpage closed on me. Anyway, this book is the most comprehensive how-to primer on starting a foundation and/or starting a life of philanthropy. Fascinating. Did you know that there is 3 times more money in non-profit giving in one year than there is in US government spending??! Churches, United Way, Red Cross, non-profits...we have a very generous population in our country!
July 12, 2010
Good how to guid to philanthropy and a roadmap for setting your individual priorities
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews