VIDEO -- Donor Engagement and Scale

"Donors have to be careful of creating monsters that can't be sustained, effective monsters even, that can't be sustained." This according to seasoned philanthropistTerri Lee Freeman, who serves as head of the Community Foundation for the National Capital Region.

In this brief video (1 minute 30 seconds), Freeman discusses the need for donors to partner with others who share their vision. She also touches on the danger of pursuing scale for its own sake, rather than because it is what members of a given community want.

Freeman must be doing something right. Since taking over the D.C.'s community foundation in 1996, this founding executive director of the Freddie Mac Foundation has seen donor assets quadruple from $52 to more than $200 million.

Susan Herr

Posted at 1:16 AM, Aug 31, 2007 in High Net Worth Donors | Philanthropic Strategy | Streaming Media | Permalink | Comments (1)


Comments

Hard sometimes to think you can't sustain even the best of the best programs cause no matter how hard you try, how successful you are at your work, there's no guarantee the money will keep flowing.

For other interesting lessons about the challenge of going to scale in the youth service field, read this Bridgespan report here.

Posted by: Bruce Trachtenberg