Grassroots Philanthropy (Paperback)

~ (Author), Fred Setterberg (Author) "one morning, just before sunrise, I found myself prowling across the loading dock of the South San Francisco produce market, searching for damaged fruits and..." (more)
Key Phrases: grassroots philanthropy, venture philanthropy, outstanding people, San Francisco Bay Area, The Joys of Risk, The Trouble (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Every day Bill Somerville demonstrates that a foundation can be instantly responsive, sensitive, interested in your ideas, and helping as many people as possible. Ed Nathan, Vice President of Van Löben Sels/Rembe Rock Foundation and former Executive Director of the Zellerbach Family Fund --Van Loben Sels/Rembe Rock Foundation

In praise of Bill Somerville and the Philanthropic Ventures Foundation: Bill is my hero a friend to all of us who care about our communities, our children, our country. Catherine Milton, Founder of Friends of the Children and former Executive Director of Save the Children --Friends of the Children

Working with Bill Somerville continues to be a joy in every regard. It is difficult to imagine how we could accomplish much of our grantmaking, both regionally and internationally, without his assistance. Thomas C. Layton, President of the Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation --Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation

Product Description

A veteran philanthropist calls for decisive, hands-on grantmaking. Bill Somerville believes that foundations can do a better job Grassroots Philanthropy explains how. Endless paperwork, bureaucracy, and beleaguered foundation heads bog down many bold new ventures. The cowboy approach advocated by Bill Somerville encourages philanthropists to actively engage with the community, meet people who are doing extraordinary things, and fund those in need quickly with a minimum of process and paperwork. Somerville s style is straightforward, urgent, emphatic, and persuasive. He encourages foundations to take calculated risks and to fund ideas for actual change, rather than for fact-finding reports that exhaustively sum up what s wrong with the world. This is an illuminating book for those in the foundation and nonprofit worlds alike. With an unprecedented transfer of generational wealth expected over the next half-century, it is also a call to the upcoming generation of philanthropists to step up and use their wealth to ensure that real change happens quickly and creatively.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Heyday Books (February 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1597140856
• ISBN-13: 978-1597140850
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #638,598 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Giving Face to Face, January 26, 2008

By	Philip B. Cubeta (Dallas, TX USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Elegance of Simplicity, March 25, 2008

By	Linda Peterson "A fan of simplicity" (SF Bay Area, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Refreshing!, March 9, 2008

By	Radha Stern "Radha Stern" (Mill Valley, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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!