The NonProfit Times - October 15, 2008 - (Page 18)

PROFESSIONAL COMMENTARY: DEVELOPMENT Should The Ungodly Bright Lead Philanthropy? BY WILLIAM A. SCHAMBRA hen Warren Buffett announced his multi-billion dollar bequest to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation during the summer of 2006, he explained his generous if unconventional, act of charity by claiming that “if your goal is to return the money to society by attacking truly major problems that don’t have a commensurate funding base -- what W could you find that’s better than turning to a couple of people who are young, who are ungodly bright. . . .” American philanthropy’s romance with the “ungodly bright” has a long, if not always noble, pedigree. After all, the first large foundations -- Carnegie, Rockefeller, Russell Sage -- were established during, and fully reflected the predilections of America’s progressive era at the beginning of the 20th century. The progressives were persuaded that, just as disease was rapidly being conquered by modern science and medicine, so “social pathogens”-the ultimate source of our social ills -could be tracked down and eradicated once and for all, given new sciences of human behavior like sociology, psychology, and public administration. But this would require that the management of human affairs be taken out of the hands of the benighted many and put into the care of the enlightened few, trained and credentialed in the new social sciences. Not coincidentally,this was precisely the direction history itself wished to take. As their name suggests, progressives were convinced that history was the story of inexorable progress from the selfish individualism and parochial localism of the past to a new era of social-minded brotherhood. But only the ungodly bright avant-garde had the historical and scientific insight to break with the parochial allegiances of the past, and persuade or compel the many to follow them into a more promising, socially conscious, collective future. The first large foundations eagerly bought into progressivism’s view that new, professionally-trained elites were trailblazers into a brighter future. And so they invested massively in the rationalization, standardization, and modernization of old professions like law, education, and medicine.To bring a new order and discipline to public affairs, they also funded the development of new professions like social work and public administration. These updated old and new professions would find their home in the modern research university -- another favorite funding target for Carnegie and Rockefeller -- where genuinely objective research could be conducted free from the distorting pressures of politics and markets, and where the next generation of elites would be trained. Even the way these foundations organized themselves -- existing in perpetuity, with highly abstract statements of purpose -- reflected an abiding faith in the progressive accumulation of intelligence in the hands of the few. As long-time Rockefeller Foundation President Raymond Fosdick noted, only open-ended, perpetual giving was able to accommodate the optimistic conviction that “the dead hand They also funded the development of new professions like social work and public administration should be removed from charitable bequests,” leaving grant-making decisions entirely “in the hands of living men,” because “the wisdom of living men will always exceed the wisdom of any man, however wise, who has long since been dead.” This overarching faith in the new sciences of society lies behind one of the most frequently repeated justifications for modern philanthropy, uttered first by John D. Rockefeller himself: “The best philanthropy is constantly in search for finalities -- a search for cause, an attempt to cure the evils at their source.” 18 OCTOBER 15, 2008 THE NONPROFIT TIMES www.nptimes.com http://www.scps.nyu.edu/x187 http://www.scps.nyu.edu/x187 http://www.nptimes.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of The NonProfit Times - October 15, 2008

The NonProfit Times - October 15, 2008 Wall Street Meltdown Charities Hope To Rev Giving When To Say 'Thanks' Contents Paul Newman: It Was Always His 'Own' Safe Donations Uneven Performance Answering Donors' Questions Business Briefs Going Back To School Doesn't Require A Classroom Anymore Webinars Bring Professional Training To The Office Should The Ungodly Bright Lead Philanthropy? The Tough Economy Calendar NPT Jobs Resource Directory

The NonProfit Times - October 15, 2008

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