One of the most basic financial tools is the concept of present value. The present value concept simply assumes that value received in the future is worth less than the same value received today. You can see this dynamic working if you think about whether you would rather be given $100 today or be given […]
Category Archives: Long-Term Philanthropy
Builders, Buyers & the Social Innovation Fund
July 26, 2010 – 8:16 am
On Friday afternoon, Nathaniel Whittemore of the Social Entrepreneurship blog sent me an email questioning the enthusiasm in my recent post about the Social Innovation Fund (SIF). Nathaniel is someone whose opinion I greatly respect and his points of contention were very valid. So I sent him back a detailed response, which (with his permission) […]
Forces for Good Author Weighs In
August 6, 2009 – 7:27 am
Heather McLeod Grant, one of the authors of Forces for Good, has weighed in on the debate with a thoughtful comment that I present an abbreviated version of below. You can read the full comment here. By Heather McLeod Grant Sean, Thanks for referencing our book, Forces for Good, as an example of both high-performing […]
What Causes Systemic Change?
January 13, 2009 – 10:45 am
I got an email from a reader in regards to the posts I’ve been trading with Paul Brest. The reader suggested that some major funders believe that systemic change does not come from funding individual nonprofits and that it can only come through more comprehensive foundation programs. I’m sympathetic to this point, but I believe […]
Philanthropy’s Response to the Financial Crisis
December 2, 2008 – 11:15 am
A few weeks ago, I asked how philanthropy can emerge from the financial crisis better positioned to face the future. It turns out that Alliance magazine, one of the best philanthropy focused periodicals, asked their editorial board the same question. So the editor of Alliance sent me her board’s answers to the question with permission […]
Philanthrocapitalism & Consilience in Philanthropy
October 10, 2008 – 9:48 am
As a follow up to my post yesterday regarding the World Economic Forum and my personal views on “business thinking” in philanthropy, I’m reposting something I wrote for OnPhilanthropy.com back in January: Consilience in PhilanthropyWednesday, January 16, 2008By: Sean Stannard-Stockton Have you ever heard someone say, “We need to get out of our silos and […]
Luis Ubinas in Alliance Magazine
September 11, 2008 – 8:59 am
In December, I’ll be speaking at the Yale School of Business philanthropy conference on the topic of Information Sharing in Philanthropy. I’ll be on a panel with the same subject matter at the Center for Effective Philanthropy conference in March of next year. So I was thrilled to see the interview with Ford Foundation president […]
Robert Wood Johnson & the Long-run
April 8, 2008 – 9:04 am
Referencing my post on short-term vs long-term focus in philanthropy, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation asks for ideas via their blog: Last Friday, in his thoughtful blog, Tactical Philanthropy, Sean Stannard-Stockton, wrote about the often-missed opportunity philanthropies have to focus on the long run… On the Pioneer Portfolio, we’re interested in understanding those long-term trends, […]
