Symbiotic Relationships in Philanthropy
by: Bill Somerville, President & CEO
If one looks at philanthropy carefully, one can see that the relationship between the giver and the receiver is symbiotic - a mutually beneficial association. In other words, we need each other.
The funder needs people doing significant things and the receiver needs funds to do these things.
Thus we can drop the terms recipient, grantee, and applicant, and substitute colleague because, in reality, it is a collegial relationship. This is to say, a co-equal relationship. Both parties are equally important.
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Click above to watch Sister Christina of the Saint Francis Center speaking about her continued partnership with PVF.
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This is the case with our work with Larry Purcell of the Catholic Worker Program and Sister Christina Heltsley of the Saint Francis Center. Or Suzanne Abel of Puente in Pescadero. There is a whole list of people we work with who we consider to be colleagues.
With all this said, one realizes philanthropy is not "giving money away." It is finding outstanding people capable of doing outstanding work and investing in them. Philanthropy, we argue, is the timely investment of funds in leadership.
By timely investments, we mean "do it now". Give funds when they are needed. Don't have people wait. Many foundations say they give funds on a set schedule but in reality, the word "schedule" means "at our convenience." Philanthropic Ventures Foundation gives funds on a 48 hour turnaround basis and has done so for 20 years.
Note that we said "funding leadership." Too often if a request for funds sounds compelling, exciting, worthy, it gets funded but it is nothing unless there is strong leadership involved. We urge: fund people, not paper.
Our job at PVF is to help people be successful in what they do. Their success is our job. The joy of our work is that our relationships with outstanding people evolves into friendships. We respect each other, we share our ups and downs, and philanthropy prospers.
We invite you to join us to be a part of this process.