By: Bruce DeBoskey, Philanthropic Strategist
In 1993, four respected organizations worked closely together to publish a list of 10 “rights” intended to establish a stronger relationship between philanthropists and their nonprofit beneficiaries.
However, 23 years ago the world was vastly different — as was the world of philanthropy. Because of far-reaching changes that have taken place since then, the Donor Bill of Rights and its 10 precepts now are significantly out of date.
When this document was first published, technologies like the internet and digital cellular communication were embryonic. Nonprofits had no websites. Access to online information about an organization’s mission, programs, finances and leadership was little more than a futuristic dream.
A nonprofit’s Form 990 — the revealing IRS annual nonprofit tax filing that provides the public with detailed financial and other information — was available only upon request by mail, fax or a visit to a nonprofit’s office.
Many new ways of donating that we now accept as commonplace — including giving days, online contributions, crowdfunding, social media fundraising, ice-bucket challenges and texted disaster-relief support — had yet to be imagined.
Because of these and other dramatic changes, those of us concerned with philanthropy and its important results must re-think many aspects of the relationship between donors and the organizations they support. Today, technology drives the nonprofit sector. Today, public reporting and open records are standard. Today, philanthropy is trending to partnerships, collective action, complex investments, impact analysis, transparency — and more.
Today, philanthropy is better defined by “strategic partnership principles” rather than “rights.”
With credit to the authors of the original Donor Bill of Rights, here is my version of what today’s philanthropists should seek as they partner with today’s nonprofits on a shared journey to achieve their respective missions.
Donors and nonprofits should expect:
Ideally, this new list of 10 “strategic partnership principles” will spark a productive conversation within the philanthropic sector — a conversation that acknowledges the steady evolution in the last quarter-century of what it means to be a strategic and effective philanthropist.
This conversation may also enhance the opportunity for both donors and nonprofits to achieve greater impact in their interdependent efforts to improve local, regional, national and global communities. I look forward to your feedback.