7 Lessons for Smart Philanthropy

By Jacob Lief

Founder and CEO, Ubuntu Education Fund

In the seventeen years I've spent running a non-profit, I've witnessed the best and the worst of philanthropy. I've watched organizations exhaust their energy on securing the next round of funding rather than investing what they have more effectively. I've witnessed nonprofits accept money that comes with very specific strings attached, diverting them from their core mission. And I've seen the corrosive effect of investors making decisions based on unrealistic or uninformed expectations.

I've also seen how beneficial philanthropic investment can be--funding core infrastructure, bolstering key talent, and ensuring the future of an organization. These practices, in aggregate, make the solution to some of the world's biggest problems possible.

So, what makes philanthropy effective? To answer this question, I partnered with University of Pennsylvania's Center for High Impact Philanthropy to ask some of the most respected thought leaders in the field. We set out to debunk old myths about investing and encourage new ways of thinking about philanthropy. We explored how to rethink social investing and build sustainable organizations, what expectations for overhead and scale are realistic, and where the future of philanthropic investment lies. You can hear these conversations in a new podcast series, Philanthropy Unfiltered (http://www.impact.upenn.edu/philanthropy-unfiltered/) released on November 6. As we approach the holiday season--the time of year when charitable giving hits its peak--here are seven lessons you should keep in mind before you write a check.

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