Reeta

After learning about famous philanthropists and various approaches to philanthropy for many weeks, we have now begun to look at philanthropy from the grant maker’s prospective. Our readings, class discussions, as well as our panel on Thursday all focused on the role that grant maker’s play in philanthropic endeavors.

Many of the points made in our readings were asserted by the panel members, one being the importance of humility. Lee Draper states in his article “The Seven Principles of Firmly Centered Grantmakers” that “Without the creativity, knowledge and programming of nonprofits, grantmakers would not be able to pursue their missions”. Panelist John Foster-Bey reiterated the point of humility when he said that “Having all the money didn’t matter because I wasn’t going to do anything with it.” While drafting our RFP’s last week, our goal was to try and create an application that would best help us discern the organizations that met all of OUR qualifications. This process of approval can easily lead to the mentality of “Why do you deserve OUR gift over someone else?” Our readings and panel discussion this week stressed the importance of looking beyond the application and realizing the influential rather than pivotal role we play as grantmakers.

This week we also learned more about the importance of site visits. Giving Well, Doing Good made the point when stating “This visit is critical, for sometimes even the most effective agents of change can only explain what they are up to by saying ‘Come and See.’” Panelist Karen Levenson also sided on the less scientific approach to philanthropy when she stated the some of the best places could have deficient RFP’s.

As we move forward, we will try to incorporate all that we can about the importance of both RFP’s and site visits, in order that we don’t prematurely deny a good opportunity some additional funding.