Hi everyone, if you’re in Seattle next Monday, May 4th, 6pm to 8pm PT, please join me and fellow rabble rouser Glen Galaich, author of CONTROL: Why Big Giving Falls Short, for a no-bullshit conversation about philanthropy. RSVP here so we know how much hummus to order.
It’s been half a year since my book was released. Thank you to everyone who has bought a copy, read it, made it a part of their book club, or sent it anonymously to various funders with ominous notes like “read chapter 8…” Because of you, the publisher is already hounding me to start working on my next project.
I think I have an idea that they’ll like. It came to me during a Q&A at one of my keynotes where I was talking about philanthropy and what we need to unlock our sector’s full potential. Someone remarked, “Vu, it seems the people who really should be in these rooms having these types of conversations, are never here. I’m talking about foundation board trustees. They hold all the power!”
Yes, this has for decades been a huge obstacle in our sector. Foundation trustees are probably the most powerful people in our sector, and yet they are elusive as the ghost orchid. These folks, with a few very cool exceptions, are never found among us peasants. Whenever I think of them, I imagine cloaked figures, like druids, having secret meetings at night in a forest, chanting in ancient tongues, around a fire.
It’s a serious problem, because foundation trustees have such influence on the sector, and yet because they have little first-hand experience with various issues and they are seldom in community to learn, they are probably the least informed people in our field. It makes little sense. We need to find a way to understand and connect to them.
So here’s my book idea: I’m going to infiltrate a foundation’s board, observe their behaviors in their natural environment, gain the confidence of the trustees until I am seen as one of them, and move them toward effective grantmaking purposes. The book will document this process, in diary format. Here’s what imagine some sample excerpts of what this book could look like:
Day 1: Dear Diary, it would be a lie to say that I am not nervous. I am trembling and could barely hold down the hummus I had this morning. Jane, who is on the board and who convinced the rest of the trustees I might be a valuable addition to the foundation, reminded me that trustees could sense fear. And poverty. I had ditched my normal outfit, bought at Ross Dress for Less, in favor of higher-end brands, to blend in. For weeks now, I have been practicing the language of foundation trustees, trying to use phrases like “how are our stocks doing,” “what does our general counsel say,” and “can we just allocate funds to a DAF to fulfill our 5% payout requirement” naturally, without hesitation.
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