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Effective Philanthropy: Organizational Success through Deep Diversity and Gender Equality

Mary Ellen S. Capek and Molly Mead have written one of those books that you hope will have an impact on its intended audience: Effective Philanthropy: Organizational Success through Deep Diversity and Gender Equality. Coming out of some multi-funder initiatives of the mid-nineties, the authors try to tackle the enormous problem of certain social norms and how they deter funding of programs and organizations that address race, class, and gender issues. As it becomes increasingly clear that race, class, and gender are central, not peripheral issues, to a whole range of social change agendas, it's important that funders and other leaders develop a strong strategic framework from which to approach them. This book takes us several steps toward such a framework. First, the book develops the concept of "deep diversity". In my experience, shallow diversity results in efforts that feel tagged on, cause additional expense, and lack synergy with other central aspects of a project. Deeper approaches reveal rich strategic benefits. Second, the book describes case studies of successful foundations and programs. These descriptions are much more than mere anecdotes. The more I learn about social change the more I come to share the perspective of the authors and the visionary funders who supported them. For example, it has become increasingly clear in the last few years that funding women's programs in the international arena is a key toward economic development and social justice. This book will help us take that insight and others and apply them in the years to come. Posted: 2/23/07; 2:17:56 PM #

Taking Advice: How Leaders Get Good Counsel and Use It Wisely

Dan Ciampa's book Taking Advice: How Leaders Get Good Counsel and Use It Wisely is literally incomparable, in that there is nothing else like it. There are hundreds of books on the topic of giving advice, but the skills involved in taking advice, despite their impact on success, are profoundly neglected. This book goes a long way toward rectifying that neglect. One of Ciampa's main contributions is a very useful taxonomy of types of advice: Strategic, Operational, Political, and Personal. He defines the typical content of each of these types, along with how the leader can benefit from it. Then he goes on to define four kinds of advisors: Expert, Experienced, Sounding-Board, and Partner. Together, these form a matrix from which he derives a number of useful scenarios and insights, especially as they relate to the attitudes and practical actions of great advice takers. I was especially interested in his ideas for setting up advice networks. No doubt you'll see signs of these ideas in my own search for advice in the coming months. I hope you find this as useful as I have. Posted: 2/23/07; 1:53:19 PM #

Gilbert Center Publication Catalog for Spring 2007

We're a very Internet centered organization and one of the symptoms of this is that we rarely print things out. But every now and then it's really handy to be able to hand something tangible to a colleague, especially when you're making purchasing decisions. With that in mind, we are releasing the first of several free, print-oriented, PDF catalogs of products and services: the Gilbert Center Publication Catalog for Spring 2007. It's a handy 17 page document with all of our publications described within, as well as a printable order form. I hope some of you will find this useful! Posted: 2/23/07; 12:23:26 PM #

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