Week 5

Question 1

Logic Model

Answer 1

Cause and Effect
Inputs, outputs and outcomes
Similar to science or business planning

Question 2

Theory of Social Change

Answer 2

Closer to social movement building
Changing hearts and minds
Building toward political and legal changes

Question 3

Metrics

How can results in philanthropy be assessed? and How important is it to do so?

Answer 3

“What business are you in?” - Peter Drucker

Challenges of metrics: Some may have no real end point

Regularly reviewing results of our giving allow us to adjust our approach given the information

Question 4

3 Methods of Due Diligence

Answer 4

Method 1: Document Analysis (Review letters of interest, request proposals from specific organizations

Method 2: Site Visit (Look at how well organized, energetic, and engaged staff and leadership are. Consider the facility and observe programs.)

Method 3: Meet with Leadership (Attend BOD meetings, Interview representative board members, and ED)

Question 5

Charitable Giving

Answer 5

Giving out of the kindness or out of a sense of human obligation when the heart is moved, as when you see someone cold or hungry, or give relief to disaster.

Question 6

Responsive Giving

Answer 6

Giving when asked
Giving like paying dues to organizations whose claim you recognize
Checkbook giving
What Tracy Gary calls “honored obligations”
What charities call “sustaining gifts” or “annual Gifts”

Question 7

Strategic Philanthropy

Answer 7

Giving, often in larger amounts, on purpose after research and reflection, with an eye to achieving specific results.

Question 8

Impact Investing

Answer 8

Move investments where they will do the greatest good, not only for the investor but also for the world

Question 9

Why am I giving? What do I hope to achieve? How do I think change will happen? These three questions are among the five milestones in the philanthropic roadmap provided by Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. Which of these questions below are also among the five?

I. How will I measure results?
II. Who joins me?

A) I Only
B) II Only
C) Both I and II
d) Neither I nor II

Answer 9

C) Both I and II

Both are included. The second, concerning “who joins me,” is central to the kind of philanthropy espoused by Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors and also by Tracy Gary. The idea is that philanthropy cannot be driven towards a good result by a single funder, no matter how wealthy or determined. Philanthropy, to be effective, may also require other funders and also the charities themselves. Good philanthropy may also join the government in addressing certain issues areas. And philanthropy is often embedded in family traditions, so the donor may be joined by their family. Women’s Philanthropy has been particularly articulate about the social dynamics of giving as a group within a like-minded network such as women giving with and for women, who thereby raise up families and communities.

Question 10

In researching potential grantee organizations, Renata Raffery suggests going to experts, including experience funders, and doing all of the following EXCEPT

A) Provide them with your moral biography
B) Provide them with a profile of what you wish to do or fund: field of service, sphere of influence, locale budget size
C) Ask them for organizations meeting your profile
D) Use these sources to compile a large list of candidate organizations.

Answer 10

A) Provide them with your moral biography

The others listed by Renata as appropriate steps.

Question 11

To find appropriate grantee organizations, Renata Rafferty suggests “casting a wider net” by doing which of the following?

I. Publicizing what you wish to fund through a newsletter, trade publication, and professional journals, while preserving privacy by using a blind mailbox or blind email address for replies.
II. Send personal letters to as many organizations as possible within a preferred issues area.

A) I Only
B) II Only
C) Both I and II
d) Neither I nor II

Answer 11

A) I Only

The second of the two approaches would be cumbersome and would result in the loss of the funder’s privacy. Very likely, the funder would be besieged with requests for funding as their name got out.

Question 12

Renata Rafferty recommends which of the following as methods for due diligence concerning a charity?

I. Document analysis: review letters of interest that have come in and requests for proposals from specific organizations.
II. Site Visit: Review how well organized, energetic, and engaged the staff and leadership are; consider the facility and observe programs.

A) I Only
B) II Only
C) Both I and II
d) Neither I nor II

Answer 12

C) Both I and II

Both are approaches to due diligence recommended by Renata Rafferty. She also recommends a third approach, which involves meeting with leadership and sitting in on board meetings.

Question 13

Donors can fund “programs or capacity.” Which statement or statements below is (are) true about programs and capacity?

I. Programs are the projects and ongoing work of the charity that provide benefits to those whom the nonprofit serves.
II. Capacity is the general infrastructure needed to support the programs

A) I Only
B) II Only
C) Both I and II
d) Neither I nor II

Answer 13

C) Both I and II

Question 14

In philanthropy, what is an “issue area”?

A) The root cause of a problem.
B) An area of controversy.
C) A family problem or personal problem.
D) An issue or cause on which the giver seeks to have an impact.

Answer 14

D) An issue or cause on which the giver seeks to have an impact.

An issue area could, for example, be global hunger, AIDS/HIV, rural education, or homelessness, to mention just a few.

Question 15

In the context of philanthropy, what is a logic model?

A) A logic model connects money to socially beneficial results via a casual mechanism.
B) A logic model is a theory constructed from theorems.
C) A logic model is a traditional component of a financial or estate plan.
D) A logic model is provided by many financial advisors when a tool or technique of charitable giving is recommended.

Answer 15

A) A logic model connects money to socially beneficial results via a casual mechanism.

A logic model connect donor dollars to specific social results is generally absent in plans done by tax, legal, and financial advisors, unless the donor has a person on the team who can connect the money to specific nonprofits and their programs.

Question 16

Jane give to a women’s fund, the Dallas Foundation, whose motto is “Strong Women, Better World.” Asked for her philosophy, she says, “I believe that the best investment we can make in Dallas is in women and young girls. When a women does better, the whole family does better, and so does Dallas.” Asked how she knows this, she talks about her own history and about the women and girls’ programs she has volunteered for. She mentions three young girls she has personally mentored and how their lives were affected and how their families were affected. She traces her involvement back to her college days, when she participated in women’s circles. All of these are good ways of describing Jane’s giving EXCEPT:

A) Expresses her identity
B) Is highly hands on and engaged
C) Is backed by a theory of social change.
D) Is highly scientific and based on a proven logic.

Answer 16

D) Is highly scientific and based on a proven logic.

There is no hard and fast difference between a theory of change based on human dynamics and a scientific theory or logic model of how to get things done for people by people. Still, the nuances matter because with the terminology comes a way of looking at things and a way of managing things. As used in this course, the phrase theory and change best suits a case like this, with the human and personal element so prominent. A highly scientific approach to this “issue area” might involve statistical analysis of inputs, outputs, and outcomes. It might involve a before-and-after study of a particular community or subset of a community. It might even involve a control group and a target group and an analysis of which group did better, based on which interventions. A scientific, or “all business all the time,” approach would be framed in the language of business strategy or sociology and would be build around metrics. All that is possible with women’s issues, and women are often in the forefront of strategic giving, but in Jane’s case, this feels more like “grassroots philanthropy” driven by a passionately help and personally engaged “theory of social change.” Jane is a part of a movement, and sees herself as such. She may resist being asked to “prove” her theory with a scientific report (though in fact such reports may well be available.) Her giving style is more that of the activist, grassroots, volunteer, or movement builder. If pressed for a further theory, she might say, “Be the change you want to see in the world” rather than hand you a study. Pressed again she might say, “You are living from the haw up, all in the head, get out from behind your desk, get engaged!” (So this course author has been taught by strong women.

Question 17

In South Africa, during apartheid, Stephen Biko wrote “The greatest tool in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.” He was active in circles in which the mind was liberated even when political liberty was denied. He died in prison, after torture. His example inspired others. Over time, change came. Which statement or statements below is in line with this example?

I. “Never doubt that a small group of people can change the world. Nothing else ever has.” (Margaret Mead)
II. Social change begins when we personally decide “to live divided no more.” (Parker Palmer)

A) I Only
B) II Only
C) Both I and II
d) Neither I nor II

Answer 17

C) Both I and II

What do we give, and how do we affect change? Sometimes, what a person gives is more than money, and is not adequately stated in terms of time, talent, or treasure. Sometimes, change begins within, formed in conversation with a few trusted friends, and issues in choices that are perilous in the public square. On such movements of courage, history may turn. This is NOT all about the money.

Question 18

To create a successful social movement, Parker Palmer says, there are four steps. Which is the first step?

A) Decide to live divided no more.
B) Study the relevant social issues
C) develop an evidence-based theory
D) Formulate metrics

Answer 18

A) Decide to live divided no more.

Parker is a social movement builder from the Quaker tradition. His theory of change is based on his personal experience of the civil rights movement. His 4 steps are:

1. Decide to live “divided no more”
2. Form “communities’ of congruence”
3. Go public with the shared vision
4. Transform system of punishment and reward.

Question 19

With regard system of giving, which statement or statements below is (are) true:

I. A food bank is an example of “direct relief”
II. Funding for a policy think tank is funding for “system change”

A) I Only
B) II Only
C) Both I and II
d) Neither I nor II

Answer 19

C) Both I and II

Both are correct. “Direct relief” means relieving immediate needs. You might say it treats symptoms, or “stops the bleeding.” Funding for major overhauls through public policy advocacy, or lobbying for changes in the law, or funding for medical research or new cures, are funding for “system change.” You might say the “system change” approach attempts to head off problems off “upstream,” or that it seeks to address “root causes.”

Question 20

Charisse is a loyal supporter of her college, she has given to the annual appeal every year since graduating twenty years ago. Her gifts began at $10 and are now $300 a year. In the terminology of Ellen Remmer, this is an example of what kind of giving?

A) Responsive philanthropy
B) Charitable giving
C) Impact investing
D) Strategic philanthropy

Answer 20

A) Responsive philanthropy

There is a fine line between “charitable giving” and “responsive giving,” but in Ellen Remmer’s terminology, this is responsive giving. It is giving when asked, without much thought. Charitable giving, to Remmer, means giving when the heart is touched by an immediate need; giving a coat to a person in need, or a meal, or giving after a disaster. Clearly, this is not an impact investment, via markets, not is it strategic.

Question 21

Flooding destroyed entire blocks in Max’s home town. He reached deep into his pocket to fund the creation of an embankment that will protect the town in the future. He paid for some work, raised money from other people, and got his local government involved as well. In the terminology of Ellen Remmer, what kind of philanthropy is this?

A) Responsive philanthropy
B) Charitable giving
C) Impact investing
D) Strategic philanthropy

Answer 21

D) Strategic philanthropy

It is strategic philanthropy. It seems like a strategic business plan, doesn’t it?

Question 22

Marie’s home town flooded. Her house of worship is collecting food and clothing to help those who are now homeless. Marie fills sacks of food from her pantry drives them to her house of worship for delivery to her neighbors. In the terminology of Ellen Remmer, what sort of philanthropy is this?

A) Responsive philanthropy
B) Charitable giving
C) Impact investing
D) Strategic philanthropy

Answer 22

B) Charitable giving

Giving hand to hand, from the heart, and often with a shared sense of humanity; this is charitable giving.

Question 23

After a flood, Blaire invests in creating a company that will jack up houses and put them on higher foundations, so that in the future there will be no water damage. She finds ready buyer and her firm is profitable, but Blaire keeps prices reasonable in order to help as many of her neighbors as she can. In Ellen Remmer’s terminology, what kind of philanthropy is this?

A) Responsive philanthropy
B) Charitable giving
C) Impact investing
D) Strategic philanthropy

Answer 23

C) Impact investing

Clearly, this is an investment in a business oriented to impact. It could be set up for “impact first,” with low prices designed to help the most people, or “profit first,” with prices calculated for maximum profit. In this case, the project seems to balance profit and purpose.

Question 24

Having studied and reflected upon this assignment, which statement or statements below would the course author consider true?

I. Giving at its best is strategic, oriented toward getting results.
II. Giving at its best is an expression of love, confirming a self in community with others.

A) I Only
B) II Only
C) Both I and II
d) Neither I nor II

Answer 24

C) Both I and II

Clearly, the course author cannot expect you to read his mind, but one of the core points being made throughout this course is that giving is “over-determined,” with many layers and many motives and many traditions. This assignment emphasizes the strand of philanthropy that is business like, efficient, and oriented to impact on the world, to moving a needle. But giving predates money and predates business plans. It predates roads, bridges, pencils or paper, much less spreadsheets, dials, dashboards, and gauges.

Giving held us together as friends, family, tribe, community, and tradition, perhaps even before articulate speech, certainly before the invention of writing. Even today, giving in many of its forms is best understood as an expression of love (which can include love of family, town, country, God, or love the arts, or of learning). Either strategic or loving? No! Try for both, with head and heart both engaged. That is the message from Peter Karnoff, too.

Yes, the author is expressing his opinion. And so will each of your clients and donors, if you let them. By coming to the conversation with eyes to see and ears to hear, we are more likely to see and hear where the donor is coming from. Some are 99% head and 1% heart. Other are the reverse. We do bring our own preconceptions, but listening brings us out of ourselves and into the worldview of the client or donor, where sense is made by the donor or client by the client’s own lights. Listen for the language of business. Listen for the language of love, identity , community, inspiration, and even transcendence of the mundane and earthbound. See where the conversations goes when you probe. How deep will it go? How high might it soar?