Philanthropy at Its Best?

Transcript Now Online - Click Here (PDF format, 28 pages, 226 KB)   A complete, edited transcript is now available of the Bradley Center's May 28 panel discussion entitled
 
Philanthropy at Its Best? A Discussion of  NCRP's New Benchmarks for Foundations   
Thursday, May 28, 2009 - 12:00 to 2:00 p.m.
Hudson Institute - Betsy and Walter Stern Conference Center
1015 15th Street, NW - Suite 600
Washington, DC 20005

Event Description

The National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy provoked a lively and healthy debate in philanthropic circles with the publication of Criteria for Philanthropy at Its Best: Benchmarks to Assess and Enhance Grantmaker Impact. Among its more controversial recommendations were suggestions that foundations should aim for a 50% threshold for giving to marginalized communities and 25% for advocacy efforts. A Thursday, May 28 panel discussion hosted by the Bradley Center featured major voices, pro and con, in the debate over NCRP’s recommendations, and included NCRP executive director AARON DORFMAN, SHERECE WEST of the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, the Philanthropy Roundtable's ADAM MEYERSON, and DONN WEINBERG of the Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Foundation. The Bradley Center's WILLIAM SCHAMBRA moderated the discussion.      

Recommended Reading 

Criteria for Philanthropy at Its Best is available FREE online - click here for more information. (Click the link "Full Criteria for Philanthropy at Its Best" to download the document itself in PDF format - 142 pages, 904 KB). On April 23, The Chronicle of Philanthropy published an opinion piece by the Bradley Center's William Schambra on some of the reaction to the report, which itself received some letters to the editor - click here to read. Chronicle subscribers may also want to read an essay by Aaron Dorfman ("Foundations Need to Think Hard About Their Blind Spots," April 23) and two pieces by Chronicle senior writer Ian Wilhelm ("Proposed New Benchmarks Would Step Up Antipoverty Grant Making," March 12, and "Foundation Officials Criticize Report on Criteria for Philanthropy," April 9) on Criteria and the public response to it.

Program and Panel 
11:45 a.m.
Registration, lunch buffet
 
12:00 p.m.
Welcome by Hudson Institute's WILLIAM SCHAMBRA
 
12:10
Panel discussion
AARON DORFMAN, National Committee of Responsive Philanthropy ADAM MEYERSON, Philanthropy Roundtable

   West, Schambra, Dorfman, Meyerson, and Weinberg