THE CHRONICLE OF
PHIL A NTHROPY®
The Newspaper of the Nonprofit World
Volume XXIV, No. 6 • February 9, 2012 • $5
Pa no r a mic Vis io ns
People Who Need People
—to Help Them Give
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KeVin Fitzsimons, ohio state UniVersity
Leslie and Abigail Wexner (center) ranked No. 21 on the list of top
donors for their $65-million pledge to Ohio State University.
PHILANTHROPY
50a s Tensions o ver Wealth Gap
r ise, the r
How do the wealthy decide where to steer their
gifts? Many turn to advisers like Margery
Tabankin (whose clients include Barbra
Streisand). Learn more about how these
advisers work and what fundraisers should
know about them.
sTories s Tar T oN PaGe 20.
ich a re Giving More
s ome Fear Hull House
By Maria Di Mento
and Caroline Preston
THE SUPER RICH GREW more chari- table last year, as public opin- ion of them became less so. The
The über-wealthy cut those checks
against a backdrop of increased scru-
tiny. The Occupy Wall Street move-
ment and growing concerns about an
economic divide have made a target
of multimillionaires and billionaires,
with mixed implications for their phi-
lanthropy. While some fundraisers
and philanthropy watchers say the
rallying cries of the 99 percent may
stir greater generosity, particularly to
social-service groups, The Chronicle’s
numbers don’t show a shift in how the
rich are directing their giving.
David Callahan, a senior fellow at
Demos, a left-leaning think tank, says
that, historically, wealthy donors have
stepped forward when concerns about
inequity have flared.
“I don’t think it’s a coincidence that
the first great year of philanthropy
coincided with the progressive era, in
that you had people like Andrew Carnegie and [John D.] Rockefeller recognize that there are big disparities in
society and they had themselves been
subject to intense criticism,” he says.
But John C. Malone (No. 28 on The
Chronicle’s list), the billionaire chairman of Liberty Media, warns that the
“scapegoating” of wealthy individuals
might make them more hesitant to
give away big money in the public eye,
and could even stop them from giving
altogether.
“They will either try to do whatever they think is appropriate out of
the press, or they will perhaps decide
to reallocate their capital,” says Mr.
Malone, who last year gave $57-mil-
lion to Yale University and a public
charter-school network.
Melissa Berman, president of Rock-
Continued on Page 6
Closure is an o men
for s truggling Charities
How We Got the Gift
Find out how two
nonprofits won
megagifts. Page 10
The Philanthropy 50
See the list of the
most-generous donors
of 2011. Page 12
PLUS: Get behind the
numbers of who gives
and who gets. Page 7
By Maureen West
THE FINANCIAL COLLAPSE of Chicago’s Jane Ad- dams Hull House Association shocked nonprof- it workers around the country when the institution dismissed its 300 employees and shut its doors
last month.
The closing was particularly jolting to many in the
charity world because of the association’s iconic status:
It dates back to America’s pioneer social-service charity, one that created the prototype many nonprofits follow to this day.
Hull House, started in 1889 by the sociologist Jane
Addams, began as a settlement house that worked
to “Americanize” Chicago’s immigrants and help the
city’s poorest citizens improve their lives. Ms. Addams’
work on issues involving women, children, and public health proved widely influential; she won a Nobel
Peace Prize for her efforts in 1931.
But in the 21st century, Hull House Association
struggled to balance greater client needs with financial woes driven in part by declining government aid
that the charity relied on for nearly 85 percent of its
Continued on Page 32
steVen e. PUrcell
Big Giving Goes Mobile
n Charities have found a way to
get around a stumbling block on
text donations: Instead of just
seeking $10 or $25 gifts, as
many were forced to do in the
past, they are now asking people to give large sums in a short
smartphone message. Page 24
It Takes a Village
n Solving big social problems often
requires everyone in a commu-
nity to pull together. A new White
House study sheds light on what
it takes to get nonprofits, govern-
ment, business, and others to
succeed, and why it takes too
long to make progress. Page 29
