Sean Stannard-Stockton over on Stanford Social Innovation Review has a rather useful categorization scheme for types of philanthropy, breaking down the many, many types and motivations into three main groups:
- Charitable giving seeks to buy nonprofit program execution that will accrue to beneficiaries…. The charitable giver is concerned primarily with the value of the programmatic execution relative to grant size and cares little about the nonprofit enterprise for its own sake.
- Philanthropic investment seeks to provide resources to nonprofit enterprises that increase the nonprofit’s ability to deliver programmatic execution…. The philanthropic investor, like a for-profit investor, is primarily focused on the longer-term increase and improvement in programmatic execution relative to grant size.
- Strategic philanthropy seeks to buy nonprofit goods and services in a way that aligns with a theory of change defined by the strategic philanthropist, or to invest in the growth of nonprofits needed for the theory’s success.
Each type aligns with a different cluster of values and evaluations. And each demands a different strategy for attracting, securing, and stewarding the gift. Granted, it’s one of many ways to segment the philanthropic market, but it’s got legs.
