Toward Higher Philanthropic Ground: Barriers and Gateways James M. Langley President, Langley Innovations

Toward Higher Philanthropic Ground:Barriers and Gateways

James M. Langley

President, Langley Innovations

HIGHER PHILANTHROPIC GROUND

LET US NEVER FORGET

• THAT WE LIVE AMID A REVOLUTION,

• THE LIKES OF WHICH THE WORLD HAS NEVER SEEN

• WITHOUT PRECEDENT AND PARALLEL


A REVOLUTION

THAT HAS PRODUCED THE GREATEST VOLUNTARY TRANSFER OF WEALTH IN HUMAN HISTORY

A TRANSFER ON AN ANNUAL SCALE THAT EXCEEDS $300 BILLION DOLLARS

MORE THAN THE GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT OF MANY COUNTRIES


IT IS, OF COURSE,

THE AMERICAN PHILANTHROPIC REVOLUTION

LET US NEVER FORGET ...

HOW IT BEGAN

WHY IT BEGAN


THE AMERICAN PHILANTHROPIC REVOLUTION

AROSE FROM A RARE SET OF CIRCUMSTANCES

A CONFLUENCE OF FORCES AND FACTORS

CREATED THE FACE OF AMERICAN PHILANTHROPY

AND SUSTAINED IT OVER THE CENTURIES


Faith

Reason for coming to the new world

Spiritual and organizational force

91% of Americans believe

Regular church attendance greatest predictor of philanthropy


Abundance

Reward for faith

“God shed his grace ...”

Highest standard of living in the western world by 1776

Endowed by our creator, not the divine right of kings


Cooperation

Mayflower Compact

“We the people” as a social construct predates the coining of the phrase in the preamble of the Constitution


Example

“For we must consider that we shall be as a City upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us. Soe that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause him to withdraw his present from us, we shall be made a story and a byword throughout the world.” Who? When?


Governor Winthrop

1630

Oft-repeated sentiment


The onus of example animates the spirit of reform, the determination to create a better world

Huge force in philanthropy

Social entrepreneurship

Why we shouldn’t merely ask others to give TO our schools, but THROUGH them to improve the human condition


Ben Franklin

Philanthropy as a means of sharing the meaning of one’s life with future generations

Empowering young entrepreneurs


We are the inheritors of this remarkable tradition

The keepers of this culture

We are, or must be, more than representatives of individual institutions

We must reflect the FACE of American philanthropy


remember, it is a cultural phenomenon

It is not transferable

nor is it inexorable, inexhaustible

Culture is like a soil

It must be nourished


Americans are still philanthropic

Believe in giving time and money

If they give time (and 73 percent have, 43 percent in the last year), they give 10 times more


Believe they should be given nothing in return (84 percent), including recognition

But, increasingly skeptical toward, estranged from institutions


The Volunteer

Six in 10 (63%) Americans cite a renewed sense of the value and importance of community service within their network of friends and family


Yet, 6 in 10 Americans says charities have become too much of a big business

56% say many charities have “disorganized” management

More than one-third say they want to see immediate results when they volunteer

44% say that if an organization cannot take advantage of their specific skills, they will volunteer elsewhere.


• Want to “touch the baby”

• Hours volunteered directly correlates to years of education

• Have every reason to more deeply integrate volunteers into our operation

• Meddlers or insiders?


• “There’s a tremendous opportunity for nonprofits to build greater awareness and understanding of how they manage their organizations by sharing insights into their funding structure, project management and volunteer coordination practices. Transparency through open and frequent communication with current and prospective donors should always remain a priority.”

• -Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund, Volunteer Match Survey


• What we’re seeing is not growing cynicism,

• but disappointed idealism

• and that is the key to turning this situation around


• Higher ed

• Has great philanthropic advantages

• Can grow its own constituents

• Moral, intellectual stature

• Emotional attachment to alma mater (nurturing mother)

• yet.....


• Note the disparities

• What we didn’t hear

• What they are really saying

• I don’t trust what you’re saying

• I don’t think you really care about me


• All of this predates the economic contraction of 2008

• The increasingly large gifts of remarkably philanthropic few were masking the decline of the many

• 16 straight years of decline in the rate of alumni participation in their annual fund

• An eroding base

• Auguring fewer major gifts, fewer and smaller estate gifts

• More restrictions, higher volatility


• A new bottom line

• Relational intelligence

• Growing orchards instead of searching for the mythical low-hanging fruit

• Connection, case, costs

Student Discovery SuccessStudent Discovery Success 7,000 alumni interviewed, 42 states, 17 7,000 alumni interviewed, 42 states, 17

countriescountries 20 percent made their largest gift ever 20 percent made their largest gift ever

after the interviewafter the interview Giving by those interviewed rose 43 Giving by those interviewed rose 43

percent within a yearpercent within a year Yielded over 1,000 new career mentors, Yielded over 1,000 new career mentors,

500 new alumni-admission interviewers, 500 new alumni-admission interviewers, 200 regional club and class committee 200 regional club and class committee volunteersvolunteers


• Able to offer a volunteer menu

• Volunteers give 10x

• Time, talent, treasure -- a sequential strategy

• Not about boards

• Task forces, support of campus functions, student activities


• Rekindling connection

• Listening

• A demonstration of respect

• Responding

• Inclusion, validation of voice

• Alignment of purpose


• The state of relational intelligence

• The power of ritual

• The value of receiving, affirming, validating

• Witness to History

• Life’s lessons (a la Ben Franklin)


• Anxiety will lag recovery

• Similar to the Great Depression

• Change of habits

• Memory of rapid loss

• Failure of endowment


• Will affect endowment giving

• Capital projects

• In decline as an option before contraction

• Naming opportunities driving by stock market windfalls


• Need to drop assumptive tactics

• Employ strategies that relate to the new environment

• that respect and replenish the deeper philanthropic culture


• Recovery will come

• Philanthropy will persist

• The only question is where its massive, history-changing energy will be directed

• Potential and peril

• Opportunity in obligation

• in, ironically, giving back


• You are vitally important because

• You are not just representatives of individual institutions or associations

• Not just fund raisers

• You are the grateful inheritors and the keepers of a remarkable philanthropic culture

• You are keepers of the faith, those who have a deeper understanding of the FACE of American philanthropy

Documents

Toward Higher Philanthropic Ground: Barriers and Gateways James M. Langley President, Langley Innovations