This new Volume takes up where the old one left off, with questions of money. Two case comments deal with the finances of charities, Dona Campbell’s more specifically with the remuneration of directors, and Donovan Waters’ with the ability of a charity to carry on a business to earn money. Professor Waters situates that question within the broader, and continuing, debate over the nature of a corporation formed for charitable purposes.
Knowing that the subject is never tiresome, Bookshelf co-editor Bill Gleberzon reviews four volumes designed to inspire enterprise in the “not-for-profit” sector.
Vic Murray and Phelps Bell go behind the scenes in the for-profit sector with some statistics that reveal influences on its willingness to contribute to charity. This material served as a springboard for Allan Arlett in the last issue, but readers may profit from getting closer to the data.
Getting money is only one part of the question. Another part is deciding what to do with it. Alan Broadbent argues that foundations must be “accountable” in their funding decisions in order to justify their favoured position in tax and other matters.
Neither the economic nor the policy questions are easy ones, as Michael Trebilcock shows in his overview of a collection of essays on non-profit institutions. The contributors differ among themselves within the same volume. No doubt readers and writers of The Philanthropist will manage to do so as well from one issue to the next.
For those who take the long view, futurist John Kettle makes some educated estimates about what will influence the practice of philanthropy in the next decade or two. Times will change, but many of the themes seem to be eternal. Keep your subscriptions up to date, there’s lots more to say.
John D. Gregory
Editor
