Joel L. Fleishman

Foundations are a peculiarly American institution. They have been the dynamo of social change since their invention at the beginning of the last century. Yet they are cloaked in secrecy -- their decision-making and operations are inscrutable to the point of obscurity-leaving them substantially unaccountable to anyone. Joel Fleishman has been in and around foundations for almost half a century . . . running them, sitting on their boards, and seeking grants from them. And in this groundbreaking book he explains the history of foundations, tells the stories of the most successful foundation initiatives -- and of those that have failed -- and explains why it matters. The baby boomer generation is going to participate in the largest transfer of wealth in history when it passes on its assets to its successor generation. The third sector is about to become more powerful than ever. This book shows how foundations can provide a vital spur to the engine of the American, and the world's, economy -- if they are properly established and run.

By 2025, Americans will likely be donating over half a trillion dollars annually to nonprofit organizations. Those philanthropic gifts will transform significant parts of America's civic sector landscape.Philanthropy is entering an era of unprecedented growth and innovation. Established foundations such as Ford and Rockefeller are doubling down on programs tackling long-simmering problems, including global inequality, less-than-stellar education, and uneven access to health care. Many foundations are engaging in advocacy on controversial issues, exploring venture philanthropy solutions, and experimenting with impact investing. And philanthropists such as Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, New York's high-profile financiers, and Silicon Valley's billionaires are planning to put their wealth to work as never Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan recently pledged to donate 99 percent of their Facebook shares during their lifetimes, and nearly 150 others have signed the Giving Pledge to increase dramatically their "giving while living."In Putting Wealth to Work , Joel L. Fleishman provides expert analysis of contemporary philanthropy, offering invaluable insight for those engaging with and affected by charitable foundations. This is the fascinating and definitive account of philanthropy today, and an indispensable guide to understanding its inner workings, impact, and expansive potential.

On Sale Mar 25, 2009 Page Count 354 Pages Publisher .publicaffairs-st0{} Public Affairs Logo ISBN-13 9780786734252 Genre Nonfiction / History / United States / General Unique in all the world, the American foundation sector has been an engine of social change for more than a century. In this companion volume to The A Great American Secret , Joel Fleishman, Scott Kohler, and Steven Schindler explore 100 of the highest-achieving foundation initiatives of all time. Based on a rich array of sources — from interviews with the principals themselves to contemporaneous news accounts to internal evaluation reports — this volume presents brief case studies of foundation success stories across virtually every field of human endeavor. The influence of the foundations on American, and indeed global society, has only occasionally come into the public view. For every well-known foundation achievement — Andrew Carnegie’s massive library building program or the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s public efforts to curb tobacco use — there are a great many lesser-known, but often equally important stories to be told. The cases in this volume provide a wealth of evidentiary support for Joel Fleishman’s description of, and recommendations for, the foundation sector. With lessons for grant-makers, grant-seekers, public officials, and public-spirited individuals alike, this casebook pieces together 100 stories, some well known, others never before told, and offers hard proof of the foundation sector’s immense and enduring impact on scientific research, education, public policy, and many other fields. The work that foundations have supported over the past century has achieved profound results. Yet foundations are capable of more and better. This volume, a window onto great successes of the past and present, is at once a look back, a look around, and a point of reference as we turn to the future. What's Inside INTRODUCTION This book of cases was originally intended to be an appendix to Joel L. Fleishman, The A Great American Secret, How Private Wealth is Changing the World (New PublicAffairs, 2007), and many of them are referred to in that volume's discussion. That book, ISBN 1-58648-411-7, can be ordered via www.publicaffairsbooks.com or through customer service at 1-800-343-4499. The cases that follow were written by either J. Scott Kohler or Steven Schindler, under the direction of Joel Fleishman, for analysis in that book. A few words would be in order about how these particular cases were identified and how they were developed. No single book could possibly do justice to all that America's foundations have done or are trying to do. There are a few excellent works on foundations, most of which are included in the Selected Bibliography of The Foundation , although only a tiny handful of those attempt any assessment of foundation impact. 1 My intention in assembling the cases in this volume was to be selective and illustrative rather than fully representative or comprehensive, neither of which would have been possible in any single volume. The initiatives documented and analyzed here represent my personal choices, informed by my professional and scholarly experience with foundations, stretching across some forty-five years of seeking support from foundations, preparing program strategy papers for foundations, evaluating foundation initiatives of a variety of kinds, assessing the effectiveness of foundation governance and evaluation mechanisms, chairing the board of a foundation, serving as head of the United States program staff for a large foundation, 2 serving as president of a... Read More Read Less

Book by Fleishman, Joel L

Excellent Book