Mission Chinese Food business model. (via The Evolution of a Restaurant: Mission Chinese Food | Food & Wine)
I think I could be a philanthropist. A kick ass philanthropist! I would have all this money and people would love me. Then they would come to me and beg! And if I felt like it, I would help them out and then they would owe me big time! The first thing I’m going to need is a driver.
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| — | George Costanza, Seinfeld, quoted in PhilanTopic: How to Be an Effective Philanthropist in Eight Easy Steps. This is a really beautiful essay on how to be an effective philanthropist. |
It sometimes feels like philanthropic efforts are held to a different standard than in the private or public sectors. All too often there is less tolerance for mistakes, which leads many organizations to become risk-adverse. And when mistakes are made, the tendency is to sweep them under the carpet - thus depriving the sector of important lessons learned. But in reality, the very nature of innovation requires that we try new things and take risks. Sometimes they will work, other times they won’t - but in all cases, we should learn from our experiences and strive to do even better in the future.
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| — | A call from Jean Case for philanthropy to be more transparent and to acknowledge and learn from failure. The painful acknowledgement of coming up short |
Ravitch argues that high-flying, unaccountable philanthropists are dictating the country’s public school agenda through their grant-making instead of listening to the field. The “current obsession with making our schools work like a business,’’ writes Ravitch, “threatens to destroy public education.’’
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| — | True or sour grapes? Bill Gates’s risky adventure - The Boston Globe |
Editorial from Brad Smith of the Foundation Center. Mentions their new project, Glass Pockets, an informational directory of foundations.
