As I put together this month’s e-newsletter, I couldn’t help but notice that engaged philanthropy seemed to be the theme that carried the day (er, month)…from the Leadership Awards to the recent Washington 100 visit to CASA de Maryland to the upcoming Philanthropy 101 sessions, to the book list we generated around informed giving to Siobhán’s reflections on the real work, research and tough calls behind effective giving, it seems that February has been all about giving with a capitol G.
And by that, I mean Giving that approaches the task from the head, as much as from the heart. I sometimes think of it in terms of "philanthropic street cred." Like seasoned reporters who know better than to follow just the flash of a celebrity-led press conference or humanitarian workers that go beyond the “hot” crisis of the day, philanthropists can also benefit from street cred—the experience of knowing the terrain, the people, the issues, the impact and the pitfalls.
I can think of a number of instances where information has contributed to my effectiveness as a philanthropist or as a professional making grantmaking decisions.
One particular example that comes to mind was related to my work on a girls’ scholarship program in Africa, and particularly the Democratic Republic of the Congo. We naturally assumed as we read proposals that the best–the best shoes, bags and books–to complement girls’ scholarships and our mentoring program was the most appropriate way to raise the girls’ self-esteem, encourage their academic success and, overall, keep them in school.
Until we learned that in the DRC, the girls had actually been chased, taunted and occasionally had rocks thrown at them in fits of jealousy by other students who had nothing like the brand new, shiny supplies the scholarship girls received.
While we, of course, continued to provide books and supplies to the girls in our programs, we became much more careful about ensuring that the girls wouldn’t stand out quite so much (We didn’t put a fancy American logo on their backpacks, for example), partnering with other organizations that would work in the same schools to provide comparable supplies to other students and encouraging more public awareness and education around the purpose and need for the scholarships for community members.
This experience reminded me, yet again, that giving–even with the best of intentions–must always be informed to achieve the desired outcome (and avoid undesired ones).
So, with Philanthropy 101 about to launch and an exciting site visit behind us, I’d like to ask about instances or situations where you’ve found that being an informed, educated philanthropist has truly made a difference in how you give, or in how the organizations you contribute to make decisions and, ultimately, impact their communities.
For you, is there an inextricable link between information and impact?