Week 2 Flashcards
With respect to the maieutic method, which statement or statements below is (are) true?
I. It is a method of questioning that leads a client to “birth” their own insights
II. It got Socrates killed
A) I Only
B) II Only
C) Both I and II
D) Neither I nor II
C) Both are correct. Socrates’s mother was a maieutic, a midwife. He said he was following his mother’s trade, since his questions induced a kind of labor in which the client gave birth to new insights, even to a new self. But his clients were dignified and powerful men. They did not necessarily want to be “transformed” or reborn. And, as we know, those who give birth may die anyway in the process. Socrates was executed for showing too little respect for established pieties, for probing too deep for the truth.
These old stories are worth retelling as you become a “midwife” to your client’s better self. The process can be personal, invasive, painful, and unwelcome. It is not a game. Or if it is, the stakes are high. It’s best, as in any medical practice, to “first do no harm.” Superficiality in analysis is bad, but superficiality in wounds is good. Sometimes skin-deep is deep enough.
Which of these words come from a root meeting love?
I. Charity
II. Philanthropy
A) I Only
B) II Only
C) Both I and II
D) Neither I nor II
C) Both I and II. The CAP symbol shows a hand holding a heart. The purpose of this question is to stress that philanthropy is more than a craft or trade: it is also something we do for love.
With regard to his family philanthropy, all the following considerations for giving are mentioned in Bill Wallace’s “Remarks” to the Bethesda Country Club, EXCEPT:
A) Honoring parents
B) Giving back to a school from which he had gained much
C) Feeling satisfaction in doing the right thing
D) Reducing taxes
D) Reducing taxes
Bill Wallace was an agent for Home Life. He headed up Home Life as it merged with Phoenix to become Phoenix Home Life. He perfectly well understands the importance of finance, and did, indeed, have expert tax and legal advisors as he created his plan. However, in this piece, he stresses not finance but the good that philanthropy does for family and society.
Consider these words by H. Peter Karoff: “The primary test for both the poetry and the practice of philanthropy is integrity - was your purpose noble, were we true to it, and did we, in all instances, deeply listen to the community of interest we presume to serve?”
Which philanthropist below best meets Peter’s test?
A) Maria, a woman of wealth, creates a giving circle within her rural town. Within that circle are several women who have a moderate amount of money and some who have very little. A few are drawn from the townspeople who have the least. Each contributes what she can. (Maria contributes the most, being the wealthiest.) The group then determines, through conversation and consensus, where the money goes.
B) Bill hires expert consultants to examine the best way to provide primary school education across the US. He determines that standardized testing provides the best change of improved outcomes. His foundation then suggests the standardized test formats and questions. He works with Congress to get these standards implemented.
C) Belinda’s goal is to eliminate ringworm in Africa and so “uplift the lives of countless millions.” In guiding her investment in this area, she relies on scientists with expertise in the disease.
D) Albert gives via an electronic database that rates and ranks nonprofits based on their cost ratios and effectiveness in addressing issues of interest to him.
A) Maria’s story
Peter would admire the way that Maria has directly involved those she “presumes to serve.” She is not making decisions for them without consulting with representative members of that community. She does not hold herself above them or apart from them. She gives in concert with them and within their view, not only her view, of what needs to be addressed. She respects the dignity of others, including the women without money. Bill and Belinda do not consult the community served but instead consult experts. Is malaria the issue that most needs to be addressed? Do parents support the standardized tests? For Bill and Belinda, such considerations are secondary. They believe that the experts know best. Albert may be using a rational process for evaluating nonprofits, but he is not specifically listening to the communities served. What Peter Karnoff holds out for is a passionate, informed, and strategic giving that involves the whole person and puts the giver into vital communication with the people whom the giver serves.
Per H. Peter Karoff, the Philanthropic Learning Curve has 6 steps. The first is “Become a donor.” What is the sixth?
A) Alignment of vision, passion, interests, so that philanthropy is among the most exciting and satisfying things you do
B) Achieve measurable results on the issue area you wish to address
C) Develop “signature” philanthropic programs that move the needle on a cause
D) Become well organized by peers a a leader in the field
A) Alignment of vision, passion, interests, so that philanthropy is among the most exciting and satisfying things you do
Peter comes at this with a perspective that includes what might be called the “Human dimension” or “moral dimension.” He pays great attention to the ways that philanthropy is like poetry and the other arts. In a great poem, the artist’s passion, vision, interests, and language fuse in a single, eloquent arc of reason and emotion addressed to a particular community. Such an act of inspired eloquence is exciting, satisfying and moving. Results? Monitoring? Being a recognized leader? Certainly Peter would acknowledge those, but what makes Peter a unique voice in philanthropy is his perspective on the human, artistic, ethical dimension of giving. At the highest level, the giver becomes the artist - not just a strategic planner. The artist of philanthropy shapes the world in ways that may often be intangible as well as in ways that can be monitored and measured.
What figure or figures below fit Paul Schervish’s account of “hyperagency”?
I. JFK
II. Bill Gates
A) I Only
B) II Only
C) Both I and II
D) Neither I nor II
C) Both I and II
A “hyperagent” is one who creates the conditions under which others, on a national or global scale, live their lives. Examples include famous generals, political leaders, inventors, certain entrepreneurs (Henry Ford, Steve Jobs), religious figures who found a faith, and also, interestingly, the kind of philanthropist like Bill Gates who can share an ear, cure a disease, found a university, raise millions out of poverty, save countless lives. The hyperagent is kind of titanic world historical figure - Carnegie, Gates, Buffet are such. When we talk about “transformational” impact, this is the scale at which a hyperagent works, and, for the hyperagent, impact at the tranformational level is a realistic goal.
Which of these is H. Peter Karoff’s “primary test” of philanthropy?
A) Was our purpose noble, were we true to it, and did we, in all instances, deeply listen to the community of interest we presume to serve?
B) Was our vision clear, did we implement effectively and efficiently, and did we, to the extent possible, achieve our intended result?
C) Was our purpose noble, were we true to it, and did we achieve our intended result efficiently?
D) Did we listen to the community and achieve for them the results most important to them?
A) Was our purpose noble, were we true to it, and did we, in all instances, deeply listen to the community of interest we presume to serve?
The other answers are meant to sound like answers that Peter may have considered and rejected. His is operating from a vocabulary that includes words like “noble.” He can use, but is not limited to, the results-oriented language of business. This is what a client is meant in observing that Peter’s firm has “elevated the discourse of philanthropy.”
With respect to the “phronesis” and “discernment,” as Paul Schervish uses these terms, which statement or statements below is (are) correct?
I. Phronesis (a term deriving from Aristotle) is more than knowledge in the head; it is the practical wisdom that achieves successful outcomes under complex, rapidly changing conditions, as in war, diplomacy, chess, or navigating a sailing ship in high winds.
II. Discernment (a term deriving from St. Ignatius Loyola) is seeing who we ourselves are and the way forward for us under complex conditions that have a moral dimension.
A) I Only
B) II Only
C) Both I and II
D) Neither I nor II
C) Both I and II
Paul is drawing both on Aristotle for the concept of phronesis, or practical wisdom, and on St. Ignatius Loyola, the founder of Jesuits, for the concept of “discernment,” which might be called practical moral wisdom that includes both self-knowledge and the way forward, when the complex issues have a moral dimension. “Above-the-line planning,” for Paul (who worked closely with Scott and Todd Fithian), is more than an inventory of goals or client preferences. For Paul, the conversation above the line is oriented to action, as phronesis is, but it also oriented to the moral dimension of a self in action across a potentially treacherous moral landscape. We do not generally consider the advisor to be the client’s spiritual director or guide, yet for Paul Schervish, the word “discernment” carries something of that implication Ultimately, it is the client who must “discern” – who must make out, as if though the mist- the right goals and the way forward. As advisors we can only create the conditions under which this might be possible. (Often we do this not by speaking, much less by pontificating, but by companionable listening, the pregnant pause, as the client finds their own way.)
Per William Wallace, each of these is a purpose of CAP, EXCEPT:
A) Create a national awareness of the need for client advisors to discuss philanthropy with clients.
B) Provide a comprehensive common curriculum for all professionals who advise clients on philanthropy
C) Create an environment where for-profit and non-profit professionals understand the perspective of their peers
D) Reduce time advisors spend in the planning process.
D) All but the last are true.
The time taken to do philanthropic consulting in a comprehensive, cross-disciplinary way is greater than would be needed for a more transactional approach.
With regard to the motives Bill and Sallie Wallace had for endowing the Chair at The American College in their name, which of the following statement(s) are true?
I. They wished to honor their parents and others who had contributed to their success and to pass on a legacy of giving to their children.
II. They wished to create a program that would encourage informed and caring philanthropy throughout the country, and even the world.
A) I Only
B) II Only
C) Both I and II
D) Neither I nor II
C) Both I and II
To the ancient Greeks what was the definition of an “idiot”?
A) A person of low intelligence
B) A person from a low station in life
C) A person isolated from others
D) A philanthropist
C) A person isolated from others
To the Greeks, to be a full human being was to live within a community in which you played a role. To be cast out, alone, or in exile was to be an ‘idiot.’ For us today, this is a reminder that none of us is entirely separate. We share a common humanity. Philanthropy can be the expression of belonging to a larger group beyond self and family.
What is meant by a donor’s or client’s moral biography?
A) The story of the clients life told as a tale with a moral meaning or purpose.
B) A story produced in such a way as to flatter a donor and induce a larger gift.
C) A story of a donor’s life, appropriately edited to produce a favorable impression.
D) The donor’s or client’s professional resume.
A) The story of the client’s life told as a tale with a moral meaning or purpose.
Yes, a donor is flattered when you hear their story. Yes, it is validating to hear one’s story retold and confirmed. Yes, all these stories are, if you will, alibis or public relations efforts. We all tell stories about ourselves which are true up to a point but leave out the less flattering bits. But the moral biography is the client’s or donor’s effort to make sense of all this and to tell an inclusive, valid story that strings the events into a narrative whose purpose is one the client or donor can affirm.
Moral Biography
Moral biography is the client’s or donor’s effort to make sense of all this and to tell an inclusive, valid story that strings the events into a narrative whose purpose is one the client or donor can affirm.
H. Peter Karoff has the audacity (a word he likes) to end his essay on philanthropy and poetry with a poem. The final lines of the Maya Angelou poem he cites are, “Sculpt it into/The image of your public self.” By “it,” she means “the dream.” In what way or ways might philanthropy, as Peter sees it, sculpt dreams into a public self?
I. The donor has a dream, and philanthropy gives it form.
II. In sculpting a dream of a better world, the artist also sculpts himself or herself as a public figure.
A) I Only
B) II Only
C) Both I and II
D) Neither I nor II
C) Both I and II
Both statements are true. An artist becomes who they are in the act of sculpting a dream. The artist may work in marble. The philanthropist works in money, tools, techniques, programs. Both artist and philanthropist create a public monument and a public persona or self.
Peter sees poetry and philanthropy as a public gesture of oneself but also transforms the community.
With regard to the CAP symbol, which of these statements is (are) true?
I. It was originally the symbol stamped on pieces of silver that Sallie Wallace’s father created and gave to close friends and family.
II. The hand holding a heart stands for craft and love.
A) I Only
B) II Only
C) Both I and II
D) Neither I nor II
C) Both I and II
To know these points allows the CAP to “tell the CAP” story to potential donors. It is a good story, one that engages the donor’s own “heart and head.”
