Warren Buffett

Finding the Incentives and Leadership for Change

I wrote last week about how new tools like the Strategy Landscape data visualizations can help promote the adoption of new behaviors and practices in philanthropy by making it easier for people to work in new ways.

But new data and tools can only take us part of the way. In What’s Next for Philanthropy, my co-authors and I also explore two other critical ingredients for change in the coming decade: new incentives and new leadership.

Calling All Billionaires: Starting a New Foundation Isn’t Your Only Option

I want to thank my friends at Duke University for letting me serve as guest blogger on the Intrepid Philanthropist this past week. Offering unsolicited advice to the Friends of Buffett and Gates (FOBGs) as they consider how to make a splash with their philanthropy has been more fun than I'd imagined. And it’s reminded me of all the great things that are happening in this field, and of all the smart thinking grantmakers are doing about how best to put their philanthropic resources to work.

Calling All Billionaires: Talent Matters

The Manchester Bidwell Corporation uses arts, education, and job training to transform communities and improve people’s lives. Based on its success in its hometown of Pittsburgh, the organization has opened new arts and technology training centers in Cincinnati, Grand Rapids, and San Francisco—and it is actively looking for other replication sites.

Calling All Billionaires: Engage the Real Experts

The same is true in philanthropy as in life: when we want answers, we tend to go to people we believe are the experts on a given topic. The more money we have at our disposal, the more likely

Calling All Billionaires: Cut the Red Tape

Ask a group of nonprofit leaders what bugs them most in their dealings with foundations, and I’ll bet you dollars-to-donuts someo

Calling All Billionaires: Fund Organizations, Not Projects

It’s great news that Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates are asking

Who Is the Richest Person in the World?

Forbes magazine has released its list of the world's wealthiest individuals, and the a

Undermining Ourselves

In subtle ways, those of us in the nonprofit sector contribute to the lack of appreciation for its strength when we act as though every good idea came from outside it and simply import the language