How to Take a Chance Wisely : Philanthropies look for new strategies against new and old problems

All highly-motivated and publicly involved institutions in Southern California are deeply troubled by the problems of society these days. So it was good to see a lively group of philanthropy executives and managers looking in the mirror the other day in an effort to decide whether they liked what they were seeing.

The occasion for the useful introspection was a half-day conference in downtown Los Angeles sponsored by the Southern California Assn. of Philanthropy. High-ranking representatives of everything from the Conrad H. Hilton Foundation, with assets of $220 million, to the Lawrence Welk Foundation, with assets under $1 million, clustered around conference tables--coffee cups and yellow legal pads in hand--to fret, in effect, about what is right and what is wrong with current philanthropy.

The high-level soul-searching was occasioned by the premise that it is always possible, and always desirable, to do a better job. But, if that’s a given, how can the people who decide who gets grants manage the money they have to give in a manner that will benefit the region more effectively? And so the conferees focused on the question of “risk-taking in philanthropy,” and how they can make more of a dent on social and cultural problems. That’s a tricky question, because the line between a risky but worthwhile project and a really dumb one is often not so apparent at the outset.

But the very fact that they are asking such questions suggests that something is more right than wrong in philanthropic circles. Rather than resting on their laurels, these grant-making operators were looking for methodologies by which the new can be tried without undermining the tried and the true. At a time when Southern California is facing myriad problems that have our leaders perplexed and our citizens more and more troubled, the exercise was notable not only for its commendable demonstration of indefatigable American optimism but for its suggestion that the region has only just begun to fight.