From Trent Stamp’s, the CEO of Charity Navigator, blog:
Shortly after the New Year, I am leaving Charity Navigator, my happy home for the last 7 years, to become the Executive Director of the Eisner Foundation in Los Angeles. It’s a wonderful opportunity for me and my family and a chance for me to spread my wings and try something new, to see if I know as much about giving money away as I have claimed over the last few years. But I do not depart without great sadness at what I leave behind.
You can read the whole thing here.
I’ve been hammering at what I view as the flawed rating system that Charity Navigator uses. But let me say this about Trent. He knows charities. He will likely make a great executive director. He won’t just use overhead expense ratios to make grant decisions for the Eisner Foundation. Charity Navigator themselves always warned donors that expense ratios alone are not enough.
Here’s a “what if” for you. What if Trent Stamp decides to share with everyone why his foundation funds the nonprofits they choose? What if he releases detailed explanations of the research conducted and the analysis done? What if he uses his extreme media savvy to shine a light on how a foundation can operate transparently and by doing so increase their own impact? The Eisner Foundation is the foundation of Michael Eisner, the former CEO of Disney. So Trent should have public visibility if he chooses to seek it.
I wish Trent the best. I’ll follow his work in his new job closely.