I got to attend a luncheon presentation this afternoon at WorldVenture. Greg Ringer, co-founder and CEO of PhilanthroCorp, spoke.

Everyone who attended had signed up weeks ago, but, to make his talk seem more relevant, I think, he retitled it to, “The Impact of the ‘Bailout’ on Philanthropy.” After the title, last week’s $700 billion federal bailout was never mentioned again. But the bailout did provide a slick way to talk a bit about the current state-of-affairs in American philanthropy.

Specifically, Ringer referred to a Wall Street Journal article called Nonprofits Brace for Slowdown in Giving. The third paragraph in the article says that, due to the slowdown in the economy, “Charities . . . are gearing up to tap their wealthy board members and other well-off supporters for extra cash.”

Ringer focused on this sentence and objected to the idea of tapping donors in the manner suggested. First, he objected to the idea of “extra” cash. “Who has ‘extra’ cash?” he asked.

But more saliently, he noted that Read the rest of this entry »

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