Excellence in Philanthropy
Lending a Hand
Dale Dawson is helping rebuild Rwanda, one small loan at a time. It all started a decade ago when a Rwandan Anglican bishop challenged Dawson: “You’re a businessman. You’ve built businesses. Why don’t you build businesses in Rwanda?” Since then, Dawson has dedicated his life to helping impoverished Rwandans save money and pursue entrepreneurship.
Symposium on International Giving
As part of Philanthropy’s forthcoming special issue on global giving, we invited some of America’s leading international donors and development experts to respond to three questions. Jean Case, Bill Frist, Steven M. Hilton, Lynn Schusterman, Ed Scott, Tad Taube, David Weekley, and more weigh in.
William E. Simon Prize for Philanthropic Leadership
The William E. Simon Prize for Philanthropic Leadership honors living philanthropists who have shown exemplary leadership through their charitable giving. Read more about the Simon prize and past winners here.
Market-Based Man
Our cover story is a profile of Charles G. Koch, winner of the 2011 William E. Simon Prize for Philanthropic Leadership. There is an essential unity to Mr. Koch's life, work, and philanthropy. All three are born of his trademarked business philosophy, Market-Based Management, which harnesses the forces that allow free markets to flourish and applies them to individual groups. Those principles have helped make Koch Industries the second-largest privately held corporation in America—and led to the creation of (among others) the Institute for Humane Studies, the Cato Institute, the Mercatus Center, Youth Entrepreneurs, the Bill of Rights Institute, and the Koch Associate Program. Read James K. Glassman's article on Mr. Koch here.
Racing for the Cure
Nancy Brinker spoke with Philanthropy magazine last fall about her urgent mission to end breast cancer. Driven by a promise made to her sister, Susan G. Komen, Amb. Brinker launched a worldwide movement to fight breast cancer through research, education, screening, and prevention. Read more about her mission and her race against the clock.
Resolved:
Robert Rosenkranz was frustrated by the echo chambers he found among people on both right and left. His idea: elevated, erudite debates between two evenly matched sides. The result: Intelligence Squared, a high-quality debate series in which the two sides try to persuade the audience—not grandstand for those who already agree with them.
The Milk Man
Nathan Straus is one of America’s great, and unjustly neglected, philanthropists. At the dawn of the 20th century, he spent down a fortune championing what is now a largely forgotten cause: safe milk. Though his efforts were resisted by the dairy industry and well-meaning elites, Straus persisted—and his efforts saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of children.
Symposium on Giving to Arts and Culture
What are the secrets of excellent giving to the arts? America’s top arts donors—including Adrienne Arsht, David Bohnett, Jay Kislak, David Koch, and Laurie Tisch—reveal what donors don’t know about giving to the arts, their favorite hidden gems, and how to make a really smart grant to the arts.
Five Books That Should Be in Every Donor’s Library
What are the essential books for every donor's library? Thomas J. Tierney outlines the five books that help donors develop effective strategies and offer valuable management insight.
The Business of Big Ideas
Meet Roger Hertog, winner of the 2010 William E. Simon Prize for Philanthropic Leadership. A pioneer in the investment research industry, Hertog now funds think tanks, journals, summer programs, university centers, historical inquiry, and investigations into Jewish thought. As a believer in the power of ideas, he describes his philanthropic approach as “a supply-side vision of intellectual capitalism.”
Do It Yourself
Bernie Marcus, co-founder of Home Depot, is working with the Center for America and John Ratzenberger to build interest in the skilled trades. For Marcus, doing it yourself is an essential part of being an American. It means being able to take control of your own life, shaping your own destiny, daring to accomplish more than you imagine possible.
Contesting Art
How does an entire city become an art gallery? John Miller visited Grand Rapids, Michigan, where Rick DeVos’ ArtPrize is helping artists and patrons to share and experience art in a new, accessible way. Learn how DeVos brought the arts to his hometown and created a new model in prize philanthropy.
Illuminated Giving
You could travel the world in search of the rarest biblical artifacts and manuscripts—or, more simply, you could visit Oklahoma City. There Hobby Lobby founder David Green and his family have assembled an unrivaled collection of biblical artifacts and scriptural antiquities. Thanks to the Green family, the city will soon be home to a world-class museum of the Bible—the first of its kind in the country.
Crafting a Better Legal Code
A number of donors are working to build a legal environment that is free, fair, and better for business. As they work to simplify and reform the law, their goal is to untangle the legal mess that prevents some private initiatives from even getting off the ground. Philip Howard's group the Common Good and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation are leading the way in reforming the system and training up the next generation of intellectual leaders in order to bring about systemic change.
Seven Myths about the Great Philanthropists
Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, and their contemporaries are among the greatest and most misunderstood philanthropists of modern times. Far from being robber barons, they inaugurated a golden age of American philanthropy at the turn of the 20th century. The achievements of these great business leaders are often unfairly maligned. It is time to set the record straight.
The Transience of American Wealth
America is truly a land of opportunity with its exceptional number of large fortunes, yet those fortunes don’t seem to last. What accounts for this lack of dynastic wealth in America? Economic historian John Steele Gordon finds the answer has nothing to do with the estate tax. Rather, his feature article shows a primary factor to be our proud heritage of philanthropy.
The Growth Investor
Richard Gilder invests fearlessly. It’s how he built his fortune—and how he’s giving it away. When Central Park was a penny stock, he went long. When nonprofits underperformed, he took over and turned them around. And when he couldn’t find an organization that excelled at promoting the study and love of American history, he built one.
Closing the Gap
'Philanthropy' reflects on the life and charity of the late Don Fisher, founder of the Gap and one of America’s most innovative and influential K-12 education donors.
