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- Catalogue For Philanthropy | George McCully, President
Catalogue For Philanthropy | George McCully, President
What's *really* new on the Web, as opposed to buzzwords and soundbites?:
The Catalogue for Philanthropy is committed to charitable giving through donor education. Each year in November, we send a catalog to 80,000 families statewide in Massachusetts. It’s backed up on our website by our 713 charities in all fields, all across the state, and organized by a taxonomy of fields of philanthropy which we developed independently.
We created our own donor-friendly taxonomy focused on charities with budgets below $3 million, with the idea that when we started, those charities represented 92% of all charities were virtually invisible to the donor community because they could not afford print publication. With the Internet, we created a portal for all these organizations to access.
Now we’re approaching our 10th anniversary, and we’ve discovered that philanthropy is in a paradigm shift powered by technology and the globalization fo the American economy which has transformed the demographics of wealth. The resultant shift is in donors rather than private foundations – about 85% of philanthropic gifts.
You can take a social problem, like domestic violence and sexual abuse, and now map it across the state and convene those interests with grantmakers across the field. Plus, you can address the strategic issues of the field directly with those people. Donors and grantmakers are no longer working on the old paradigm: charities can effectively address entire fields and make smarter decisions.
We created our own donor-friendly taxonomy focused on charities with budgets below $3 million, with the idea that when we started, those charities represented 92% of all charities were virtually invisible to the donor community because they could not afford print publication. With the Internet, we created a portal for all these organizations to access.
Now we’re approaching our 10th anniversary, and we’ve discovered that philanthropy is in a paradigm shift powered by technology and the globalization fo the American economy which has transformed the demographics of wealth. The resultant shift is in donors rather than private foundations – about 85% of philanthropic gifts.
You can take a social problem, like domestic violence and sexual abuse, and now map it across the state and convene those interests with grantmakers across the field. Plus, you can address the strategic issues of the field directly with those people. Donors and grantmakers are no longer working on the old paradigm: charities can effectively address entire fields and make smarter decisions.
Which tools best embody the new opportunities from your point of view and why?:
Our organization offers a great example. In the last few years, the IRS has made its 990s freely available to anyone on the Internet. If you are armed with the free IRS download and you have electronic spreadsheets and Google so you can translate the names of charities (which are often opaque) and a donor-friendly taxonomy (which we provide), you can do a detailed mapping of the philanthropic sector. What this produced was a new sense of the sector according to which the philanthropic sector (divided into four parts):
- Charities of internal interest only – schools, clubs, etc.
- Charities of local interest – of interest to a residential community/neighborhood – supported by the municipality
- Charities of general philanthropic interest – raise money from general public, raise broad issue
- Megacharities – major universities, hospitals, huge and combine all other three kinds of charities. Charities of general philanthropic interest are far fewer than others suspected.
Who's doing the best work with the new tools (technically or in terms of social benefit or both)?:
Kansas City and Washington, D.C. have posted online directories of local charities. The movement toward changing philanthropy has started!
Also, Katherine Jankowski of Jankowski Associates (based in Fredericksberg, Maryland) is a statistician who has done work for New Ventures and new foundations nationwide on philanthropic causes. For example, in the last 5-7 years, Massachusetts has gained 1000 new private foundations. Our total number in Massachusetts is 2642 of private foundations. It’s difficult for charities to know which foundations are available in their areas. She’s done a huge amount of Internet-based research using advanced search engine methods for this.
Also, Katherine Jankowski of Jankowski Associates (based in Fredericksberg, Maryland) is a statistician who has done work for New Ventures and new foundations nationwide on philanthropic causes. For example, in the last 5-7 years, Massachusetts has gained 1000 new private foundations. Our total number in Massachusetts is 2642 of private foundations. It’s difficult for charities to know which foundations are available in their areas. She’s done a huge amount of Internet-based research using advanced search engine methods for this.
What's the bad news? What are the greatest barriers preventing web-based technology from producing social change?:
Inertia is probably the biggest impediment. Within human services, philanthrophy and public administration, so many clients of people accessing resources is dependent on the way the information is organized and communicated. People will have much better access to the resources they need, and this will be based online as much richer websites can provide efficient help to those who need help.
As far as structural change in society goes, I’m not sure social change will occur due to the Internet. I think this technological transformation will change the way our society does things, though the ways society has changed structurally and historically takes place over a long period of time.
As philanthropy becomes systematic, it creates a lot of opportunities for the gvt and corporate sector. Gvt and philanthropy should be partners. Gvt is public initiatives based on law and order; philanthropy also addresses public issues based on concerns for quality of life. But because of crises like the tsunami of Katrina, we’ve witnessed a flood of philanthropic energy. If both crises had more web-based systematic way for people to get involved on the donor/help level, it would dramatically change the way help is structurally implemented.
As far as structural change in society goes, I’m not sure social change will occur due to the Internet. I think this technological transformation will change the way our society does things, though the ways society has changed structurally and historically takes place over a long period of time.
As philanthropy becomes systematic, it creates a lot of opportunities for the gvt and corporate sector. Gvt and philanthropy should be partners. Gvt is public initiatives based on law and order; philanthropy also addresses public issues based on concerns for quality of life. But because of crises like the tsunami of Katrina, we’ve witnessed a flood of philanthropic energy. If both crises had more web-based systematic way for people to get involved on the donor/help level, it would dramatically change the way help is structurally implemented.
