Last year, Susan Raymond of Changing Our World, asked me to write a chapter for a book she was working on. I just got my copy of Mapping the New World of American Philanthropy: Causes and Consequences of the Transfer of Wealth in the mail today.
In the next several decades, as much as $41 trillion will change hands from members of the baby boomer generation to their progeny, and to some extent, America’s charities. The ranks of those charities have grown enormously. In 1940, the nation had 15,000 nonprofits; today there are an estimated 1.5 million. If even a third of today’s high-end estimate of the resource transfer actually reaches nonprofits, that $6 trillion is six times today’s annual income flow. What happens when this bushel-full of money rains down on nonprofits? How will they respond to the managerial and organizational challenges? Can the current system support this new influx of money?
Starting with the Preface by Judith Giuliani and the Introduction by Michael Hoffman, Chairman of Changing Our World, Inc., Mapping the New World of American Philanthropy is the most authoritative collection of essays ever amassed on wealth transfer. Its contributors, comprising an unprecedented compilation of professionals—financial planners, lawyers, financial analysts, and planned giving experts, among many others, tackle these and other thought-provoking issues in a lively, informative manner. Edited by Susan Raymond and Mary Beth Martin, leading philanthropic professionals, this group of experts takes old mindsets and dogmas on wealth transfer and holds them up to the light of day to reveal how nonprofits can prepare for the coming intergenerational transfer of wealth.
A reader reviews the book on Amazon.com:
A superb collection of essays about literally every angle of contemporary giving — and the expert views are presented w/ detail, verve, and literate assessments of the problems and challenges. Readable, and an eye-opener on a range of perspectives from religion, and women’s wealth, to science and technology –often with historical briefs to put the current and prospective trends into deeper context.
My chapter is titled “The Evolution of the Tactical Philanthropist”. In it, I introduce the concept of Tactical Philanthropy, track the historical usage of philanthropic vehicles, describe “a new species of philanthropist” willing to take risks but demanding results, and predict a redefining of the philanthropic disciplines in response to exploding demand for philanthropic advice.
You can buy your copy of the book here.
I wrote yesterday about the importance of a cross-disciplinary approach to understanding philanthropy. One of the things I like so much about Mapping the New World of American Philanthropy, is the cross-disciplinary nature of the various authors, who include:
- Eileen R. Heisman, CEO of the National Philanthropic Trust
- Howard Husock, director of the Manhattan Institute’s Social Entrepreneurship Initiative
- Glen Macdonald, founder of the Wealth and Giving Forum
- Marc H. Morial, CEO of the National Urban League
- Dennis Whittle, co-founder of GlobalGiving
Other authors have backgrounds that include; human resources, marketing, foundation work, health care, science, public relations, wealth management, divinity, the arts, and sociology.
You can hear directly from Susan Raymond by listening to or reading the transcript of the podcast I recorded with her recently.