Take Oprah’s visit to a slum in Mumbai. One can assume that Oprah had positive intentions in her visit, yet, when the piece aired, a palpable tone of judgment and comparison to her reality offended many. When she asked a family about its small home—“I don’t mean to be offensive, but does it feel crowded?”—she... Read More
The right question is not “What can I do for you?” It is “What can I do with you?” When I worked at the Global Fund for Women (GFW), one of our mantras was, “How we do our work is as important as what we do.” This resulted in a grantmaking program that very deliberately trusted and respected grantees’... Read More
Long interested in issues of international development and aid, in 2003 I conducted a qualitative study on Barriers to International Giving by U.S.-based Foundations. Nearly a decade later, the findings from this research are still relevant to funders engaged in or interested in international philanthropy. One of the interesting findings from my research was that... Read More