Paving the Road of Good Intentions: In Honor of National Philanthropy Day

The path to effective philanthropy requires a keen understanding of the landscape before us. At Stanford PACS’ Effective Philanthropy Learning Initiative (EPLI), we serve as guides, helping donors navigate the varied terrain of giving. Like any journey through complex territory, success depends on viewing the landscape from multiple vantage points: from the foundational heath where core values take root, across the rolling hills of practical implementation, to the elevated heights of philosophical reflection.

When planning our educational programs, we focus on how to realize the good intentions of donors, their executive staff, and senior advisors in ways true to the benefit of the part of our small, blue planet they want to make better. We invite guest speakers and special faculty who we believe best embody the spirit of caring for humanity and the earth and can impart their wisdom thoughtfully.

Our intentions are borne out. We often hear that our programs are “the best,” “clarifying,” “life-changing,” and more. In part, our programs reflect the value of seeking and acting upon routine feedback from our participants, speakers, and staff. But we also draw upon the wisdom of the thought leaders who publish in academic journals or widely accessible magazines like our own Stanford Social Innovation Review, as well as blogs and podcasts for audiences anxious to know how their time, talent, treasure, ties, testimony, and life trajectories might be more intentionally part of the solution to the world’s challenges. 

In our educational work, we translate our deeply held ideals into philanthropic practice—and help our participants do the same. That often means exploring the balance between seemingly contrary demands in philanthropy: How can philanthropy integrate trust and strategy, respect and rationality, and emergence and planning? Our north star—our ultimate goal, in a way—is that donors and philanthropy professionals see where they figure into history; with this knowledge, they can then walk with certitude to confront the most urgent problems we face.  

The Heath

Values are the terra firma of our signature educational program, Education for Philanthropy Professionals (EPP). Our lives sit in a tangle of institutions: politics, gender, health care, education, family, popular culture, romance, media, transportation, communication. Any effort to effect social change has built into it the values driving the effort and also some assumptions, explicit or not, about the levers that might successfully be pulled.

Professor Paul Brest teaches systems mapping so that participating attendees can enrich their understanding of the issue areas their philanthropic work addresses. Professor Brest works systems thinking into sessions on defining strategy and building theories of change. Using Socratic teaching methods and live exercises, he makes the material accessible and practical, clarifying ideas that can sometimes get lost in confusing volumes of counsel on theories of change (and, relatedly, logic models, log frames, theories of action, etc.) that philanthropists and philanthropic strategists often encounter.

Respect, relationships, and trust are, of course, an integral part of achieving impact. In his 22 years at the California Endowment, Bob Ross worked to build local power in communities the foundation served, often re-orienting his thinking about what that service might mean. His descriptions of the capabilities, aspirations, and acuity people young and old in these communities use to “architect” their own futures, given adequate resources, is one of the most emotionally potent parts of the course. Crystal Hayling has shared similar insights from her leadership of the Libra Foundation, Blue Shield of California Foundation, and the California Wellness Foundation. What does it mean to really listen to and learn from those receiving the resources—grantees or ultimate beneficiaries? 

Eric Weingartner, who leads the Overbrook Foundation, steers the issue of mutuality to the importance of both donors and grantees who share concern about making headway in solving problems. With nearly two million non-profits in the U.S., we must consider if philanthropic dollars are actually well spent and if they couldn’t be doing greater good for those most affected. It is an act of care, of respect, of collaboration, and even of trust to pay attention to the degree to which suffering is alleviated, culture is elevated, understanding is promoted, or any other good advanced through philanthropic resources.   

The Hills

Foundational issues of thinking clearly about problems, knowledge, goals, strategies, evaluation, and mutual respect, understanding, and responsibility undergird the many ways of giving we explore in the EPP program. Strategies need structural features for forward momentum, and the philanthropic landscape has new topographies. Nick Tedesco, Ashley Blanchard, Katherine Lorenz, and Stacey Faella have walked us through the insights for managing familial and intergenerational giving gathered by the National Center for Family Philanthropy. Ben Soskis, scholar extraordinaire at the Urban Institute, has shed light on the dramatic increase in DAFs and the rise of LLCs and other vehicles for moving money to effect social change. These practicalities carry with them deeper implications for how society chooses to sanction the power of wealth holders.  

Leaders of the small to mid-sized foundations in our course find new opportunities in the invitation to consider collectives, collaboratives, and giving circles offered by Philanthropy Together’s Sara Lomelin and The Hive Fund’s Erin Rogers. They argue for alignment of resources as a counter to systemic complexities—financial resources, yes, but also the human, informational, and political resources needed to make change. Sam Mar, illustrating with examples from the diverse work of Arnold Ventures, from organ donation to the primary election process and more, has taken the potential of philanthropic advocacy one step further. Increasingly, funding 501(c)4 organizations complements traditional charitable giving.

Rhodri Davies, founder and director of Why Philanthropy Matters, has provided us with essential categories for considering the functions that generative AI can play in the non-profit sector. The affordances of AI generally serve the sector specifically—for example, structuring and summarizing information, recognizing and interpreting patterns, making predictions and recommendations, and creating new content. AI challenges donors to take extra care in the knowledge they use— expert, local, lived, analytic—to make giving decisions both at the front end and at successive junctures. The novel possibilities in monitoring and evaluation that AI brings to philanthropy make the connection between impact and respectful relationships even more compelling.

The Heights

How donors see themselves as changemakers relies on their understanding of both the historical and philosophical dimensions of philanthropy. In designing the program, we think these topics are more pragmatic than arcane. The power to make change carries with it a responsibility to reflect on such considerations, including the question: Is philanthropy a force for good? Our speakers all cite social benefits: Jodi Nelson of the Arthur M. Blank Foundation used an evidentiary lens in the fall 2024 program to make a potent case for the direct value philanthropy provides; Carmen Rojas of Marguerite Casey Foundation emphasized the lever philanthropy can pull in shifting public policy and governmental programs, concentrating her description of philanthropic values and good on how she empowers her staff.

The field currently formulates many questions of philanthropic good in terms of trusting non-profits. Both Pia Infante and Dimple Abichandani, representing the Trust Based Philanthropy Project, have argued for the centrality of relationships and mutual accountability to check the power imbalances that can hinder non-profits’ accomplishments. That power imbalance can also blind donors to what’s needed to support the change they hope to achieve. Moves towards participatory modes of giving—including by deferring authority—sit in contrast to the prescriptive ethos of effective altruism, in which there are best causes and right ways to give. Heather Templeton Dill, president of the John Templeton Foundation, and others have provided participants with an additional vision of philanthropy, one that finds value in increasing the plurality of possible affiliations, activities, and advancements in civil society.  

Political theorist and Professor Emma Saunders-Hastings has argued against the paternalistic and consequently undemocratic way philanthropy can operate when it determines choices for people that they should make for themselves. Professor Rob Reich’s related stance comes from a long history of challenging the underwriting of donors’ power by taxpayers, ceding power that should belong to the polity instead to the wealthy—often resulting in self-dealing to serve the interests of donors. In light of this anti-democratic reality, Professor Reich promotes the idea that philanthropy can be justified as societal risk capital, advancing exploration of social possibilities unencumbered by the short-term pressures in the public and corporate sectors. Professor Melissa Berman outlines for us a vision of a philanthropic vanguard from a global perspective, also upholding the purpose for most human generosity: to give support, sustenance, and succor to others as they need.  

Distinct Opportunities

This tour of some highlights of our EPP program honors philanthropy’s potential. Philanthropy—our “love of humanity”—does not come free of burden; poorly wielded, the resources donors give can be wasted or lead to unintended consequences. Our current polycrises—existential environmental threats, autocratic political turns, untenable and unjust economic structures, institutionalized bigotry—deepen the imperative for donors and philanthropic leaders to articulate their values and commitments, and address the reality of the world as it is. 

Where do wealth holders see themselves in this vital work? What changes do they aim to create, what challenges do they hope to address, what new possibilities do they wish to explore? Our EPP program equips attendees with both the practical knowledge and philosophical perspective to answer these questions. Through understanding philanthropy’s complete landscape—from its bedrock values to its highest aspirations—participants can move forward with increased confidence and conviction, ready to address the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.

Stanford PACS’s next Education for Philanthropy Professionals offering will begin April 23, 2025, with applications for acceptance to the program opening in December.