Events Detail

Is Philanthropy Killing Itself with Kindness?

 

Monday, March 25 - 12:00 to 1:30 p.m.
Hudson Institute - Betsy and Walter Stern Conference Center
1015 15th Street, NW - Suite 600
Washington, DC 20005

Bradley Center events are streamed live online.
[You do not need to register to watch the panel discussion online.]

Please watch by clicking here.

 

Event Description

“The culture of overweening politeness in American philanthropy is leading to our ruin,” maintains Albert Ruesga, president of the Greater New Orleans Foundation. “It keeps me from telling you, in the clearest possible terms, that your five-year, $2-million initiative to end homelessness is well-intentioned magical thinking at best and boneheaded ignorance at worst.”

“It’s hard to be a critic in this sector,” according to philanthropy consultant Cynthia Gibson. “We’ve been too nice to each other for too long,” adds Vignetta Charles of AIDS United.

Chronicle of Philanthropy reporter Caroline Preston elicited these reactions for her recent article posing the question, "Is Philanthropy Killing Itself with Kindness?”

We continued the conversation these four began with our panel discussion on March 25, which took its bearing from Preston’s article, and followed the question wherever it took us. Our distinguished panel included the author Caroline Preston; Albert Ruesga of the Greater New Orleans Foundation; Vignetta Charles of AIDS United; and philanthropic consultant Cynthia Gibson. Hudson Institute Senior Fellow William Schambra moderated the discussion.

 

Required Reading

Caroline Preston, "Some Nonprofit Leaders Ask: Is Philanthropy Killing Itself With Kindness?," Chronicle of Philanthropy, February 24, 2013.

Program and Panel

11:30 a.m.
Registration, lunch buffet

12:00 p.m.
Introduction by Bradley Center Director William Schambra

12:10 p.m.
Panel discussion
Vignetta Eugenia Charles, Vice President of AIDS United
Cynthia Gibson, Consultant for Nonprofits and Foundations
Caroline Preston, Senior Reporter at The Chronicle of Philanthropy
Albert Ruesga, President and CEO of the Greater New Orleans Foundation

1:10
Question-and-answer session

1:30
Adjournment