Notes on Four Approaches to Philanthropy…

Before I pick back up on the string of posts I’m writing about the Four Core Approaches to Philanthropy, I want to make two notes.

One, my friend Albert Ruesga of the Greater New Orleans Foundation recently wrote a post arguing that my framework was somehow separate from approaches such as social justice philanthropy or grassroots philanthropy. The four approaches I’m laying out our an interlocking framework for how capital, labor and ideas are combined to create social impact. A social justice philanthropists who wanted to not only provide aid but to help solve the underlying conditions which gave rise to the need for aid, would still need to operate within the framework I’m laying out. At least, that’s my take. What do you think?

Two, I’ve labeled one of the four approaches as the Social Entrepreneur. This is probably a mistake, because so much debate has gone on trying to define that phrase in the past. I think that the paper written by Sally Osberg and Roger Martin on the topic offers the best definition. What I’m really trying to do is lay describe the approach that involves actually running programs and financing them with outside funds. Is there a better phrase I can use?

Now, back to regularly scheduled programming…