The Foundation: A Great American Secret — How Private Wealth is Changing the World
By Joel L. Fleishman

 In his first book, law professor and philanthropist Fleishman has created a thoughtful, engrossing, comprehensive guide to the origins, initiatives, successes and failures among the largely unsung 68,000 private foundations in America, which together grant over 32.2 billion tax-exempt dollars per year. (exerpt from Amazon)

 Excerpts from The Economist book review  :

 THERE is much talk nowadays of a new golden age of philanthropy dawning. But is the hype justified? Giving has become all the rage among today's rich and famous, from billionaire bosses, notably Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, to celebrity baby-adopters such as Madonna. But while their generosity is certainly immense, growing and mostly admirable, its impact on the people and good causes embraced by the big givers is unclear. Any budding philanthropist who aspires to make a better world, rather than merely to feel a better person, should read Joel Fleishman's wise book, “The Foundation”.

....

He has plenty of ideas for raising the game of existing foundations, and helping new ones avoid repeating past errors. At the heart of these is a voluntary effort to make foundations more transparent—especially by honestly reporting failures—and more open and accountable to a public that seems largely ignorant of their existence and the role they play.

Foundations, he laments, “operate within an insulated culture that tolerates an inappropriate level of secrecy and even arrogance in their treatment of grant-seekers, grant-receivers, the wider civic sector, and the public officials charged with oversight. This needs to change.” Something, then, for those trendy new philanthropists to ponder.

Full Economist review  

Hardcover: 341 pages
Publisher: PublicAffairs (January 9, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1586484117
ISBN-13: 978-1586484118