Customer Reviews

Grassroots Philanthropy: Field Notes of a Maverick Grantmaker

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Bill Somerville is the President and Founder of Philanthropic Ventures Foundation. Born poor, he was the first in his family to attend college. Now, with 48 years experience in nonprofit work, he has written a short, passionate, and wise book, with Fred Setterberg, Grassroots Philanthropy: Field Notes of a Maverick Grantmaker. Bill recommends funding people, not projects. To get to know people, Bill suggests that funders push back from their paper laden desks, and go out into the community, not just to talk to grant-seekers, but to seek out high potential change agents, and get to know them, whether or not they have applied for a grant. To free up time for such direct engagement, Bill suggests ways to streamline paper flow. Bill's advice comes across as that of a man driven by an ethic of service. Those in need are not abstractions to him, nor statistics. With all that money in foundations, he seems to feel, surely more can be done right now to make a positive difference in the lives of people the funder can meet, and should meet, face to face. I can see this book being very helpful not only to salaried grant-makers at large foundations, but also to the founder and family members of unstaffed private foundations, or those who might have a donor advised fund, or just anyone who wants to make gifts not as transactions by mail, or online, but hand to hand, heart to heart, and eye to eye.

Philanthropists - large, small, individual, family, institional - have generous impulses. But what gets in the way of identifying needs and putting those generous impulses to work? Bureaucracy, cumbersome application processes, "gaming" the system, losing sight of what power a gift can provide. Bill Somerville, a legend in philanthropy and an innovator in grant-making, has created a book that brings us back to the basics. Bill's history, commitment, and straightforward approach restore faith in what gifts (or investments, as he often calls them) can do.
Less paper, less process, more generosity, more impact. The math is simple, the approach is elegant -- the man who invented "fax a grant" speaks and we'd all do well to listen. His co-author, Fred Setterberg, has captured Bill's passion and his joy. We all benefit.

I find Bill and Fred's book very refreshing. It is not the same boiler plate philanthropic advice. We should all dare to be different and get our philanthropic best foot out into the world!

This is one of the greatest books focused on the nonprofit sector that I've read so far.

Bill states several problems with small foundations, and they provides five simple solutions.

As a social service administrator and educator in New Jersey, and the son of Bill Somerville, I am able to say that he lives and practices the ideas put forth in his first book.

Family may be one's greatest support, but they are also sometimes the harshest critics. From the staff he hires, to the people and programs he helps to fund, to the car he drives, Bill Somerville has earned my respect. He is antithetic to burdensome bureaucracy and self-importance and he believes in the people with whom he works.

His book, like his work, is to-the-point, without pretense, and applicable to many people and organizations.

As a social service administrator and educator in New Jersey, and the son of Bill Somerville, I am able to say that he lives and practices the ideas put forth in his first book.

Family may be one's greatest support, but they are also sometimes the harshest critics. From the staff he hires, to the people and programs he helps to fund, to the car he drives, Bill Somerville has earned my respect. He is antithetic to burdensome bureaucracy and self-importance and he believes in the people with whom he works.

His book, like his work, is to-the-point, without pretense, and applicable to many people and organizations.