{"id":14679,"date":"2017-10-19T18:10:59","date_gmt":"2017-10-20T01:10:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=14679"},"modified":"2017-10-19T18:10:59","modified_gmt":"2017-10-20T01:10:59","slug":"birth-of-a-sceptic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/birth-of-a-sceptic\/","title":{"rendered":"Birth of a sceptic"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In Learn How to Study: Developing the Study Skills and Approaches to Learning that Will Help You Succeed in University<\/em>, Derek Rowntree offers basic and practical concepts to aid learners in assimilating and retaining the vast amounts of material we will encounter in our DMin program.\u00a0 I\u2019ve decided the best way to approach the learning in this text is to apply Rowntree\u2019s coaching directly to one of the shorter articles in my bibliography.\u00a0 It is, as Rowntree suggests, \u201c[needing] to be involved in the making of your own knowledge.\u201d[1]<\/a>\u00a0 And so I pray you\u2019ll bear with me as, with Rowntree as my sounding board, I analyze a brief article: \u201cAn Alternative Model of Philanthropy\u201d by Madeleine F. Green and Annie W. Bezbatchenko, which appeared in Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning<\/em> in 2014.<\/p>\n

Rowntree lays out the goal for learners at the beginning of his book: You need to know what you and your tutors want, and develop approaches to attaining it.[2]<\/a>\u00a0 My research topic is \u201cGenerational transitions in faith-based family philanthropy\u201d.\u00a0 Millennials are inheriting the responsibility of stewarding significant wealth dedicated for Christian ministry purposes.\u00a0 How will their leadership impact future Christian giving?\u00a0 To respond to those questions, I will be reviewing critical books and articles, including the one by Green and Bezbatchenko, and writing my dissertation on that topic.<\/p>\n

At the outset, Professor Rowntree counsels his readers to be \u201cactive, alert, questioning and, where necessary, sceptical.\u201d[3]<\/a>\u00a0 I\u2019ve read a multitude of foundation-sponsored articles over the years, and I admit to a degree of scepticism with this brief article.\u00a0 The first indicator for this sceptic was discovered in the biographical information of the authors in the footer of the article. \u00a0I was surprised, no, dismayed, to discover that Green and Bezbatchenko were program staff at the Teagle Foundation, the same highlighted institution that brilliantly shines in the article as a third way, and alternative model, for foundations.\u00a0 They are clearly not dispassionate observers.<\/p>\n

The Teagle Foundation, as a private grantmaker, invests in strengthening liberal arts institutions, and their approach is creative, thoughtful, and engaging[4]<\/a>. However, I find it a stretch to insist that it models a unique, third way forward for foundations.\u00a0 Green and Bezbatchenko set this up by contrasting Teagle with two types of grantmakers, Knowledge-Based Grantmakers (of which Mellon, Rockefeller, Carnegie and FIPSE are cited as examples), and Strategic Grantmakers (for example, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and Lumina Foundation).\u00a0 The former are said to be \u201cmore reflective, more patient, and generally less aggressive\u201d[5]<\/a> and are characteristic of the 20th<\/sup> century, whereas the latter have emerged in the past few decades, and are wanting to lead more fully, more proactively, and set their own broad and overarching agendas distinct from the institutions they assist through their grantmaking.[6]<\/a><\/p>\n

The third way espoused by the authors is a hybrid approach which serves as an alternative model for foundations.\u00a0 Like Knowledge-Based Grantmakers, third way funders work collegially with its many grantees, cultivate a culture of experimentation, and do not insist that every approach will be equally successful.\u00a0 Like Strategic Grantmakers, however, third way funders zero in on a singular social purpose, focus on a limited number of relationships, and emphasize collaborative partnerships.[7]<\/a>\u00a0 However, the claim this is a new, hybrid model is overreaching. This new model is merely the natural evolution of their foundation, based on learning and improving processes as they do their work, and as one is exposed to the best practices of other foundations.<\/p>\n

My scepticism on this model being a new third way is rooted in my own experience in leading a Canadian private grantmaking foundation, knowing how we evolved over time in our strategy and practices.\u00a0 Rowntree claims, \u201c\u2026you\u2019ve acquired your vast fund of everyday facts not through memorising them but through living them.\u201d[8]<\/a>\u00a0 Like the Teagle Foundation, we also hit a roadblock \u2013 also a year\u2019s moratorium on grantmaking \u2013 due to the recession of 2008.\u00a0 From that year of fallowness, we emerged more humble, centred, and reliant on collaboration.\u00a0 Without that succession of road trips to listen to grantees when we would normally be receiving applications, we would not have had the courage to uncover better solutions such as working together with others to establish our collaborative grants program, Stronger Together.\u00a0 As I\u2019ve watched other foundations, I see they too are making similar shifts as they hit obstacles, shift leaders, or undertake a comprehensive strategic review.\u00a0 Indeed, I had the privilege of visiting the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in May 2017, and listened to a presentation with Melinda\u2019s Chief of Staff, John Sage, who spoke of how even the mighty Gates Foundation evolves.<\/p>\n

A short article is not the best place to uncover the full explanation of Teagle Foundation\u2019s hybrid pathway forward.\u00a0 Their pathway seems valid, and from perusing their website, I admire their impact and how they have conducted themselves. \u00a0But as Mortimer Adler suggests in How to Read a Book<\/em>, one should disagree with an author when he or she is incomplete in their analysis.[9]<\/a>\u00a0 Rowntree also acknowledges that, \u201cUnacceptable premises \u2026 can lead us to reject an author\u2019s argument.\u201d[10]<\/a> I would posit that many foundations, old and new, are carving out a hybrid pathway forward, and that Teagle is not the only one.\u00a0 The pendulum does swing back and forth, and there are many of us are on that same journey of discovery.<\/p>\n

_______________________________<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Derek Rowntree, Learn How to Study: Developing the Study Skills and Approaches to Learning that Will Help You Succeed in University,<\/em> Kindle Loc 921.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Ibid.<\/em>, Kindle Loc 316.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Ibid.<\/em>, Kindle Loc 680.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> http:\/\/www.teaglefoundation.org<\/a><\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Madeleine F. Green and Annie W. Bezbatchenko, \u201cAn Alternative Model of Philanthropy\u201d in Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning<\/em>, Vol 46, No 1.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> The Gates Foundation\u2019s commitment to eradicate malaria is an example.\u00a0 See https:\/\/www.gatesnotes.com\/Health\/Mapping-the-End-of-Malaria.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Green and Bezbatchenko, 48-49.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> Rowntree, Kindle Loc 911.<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> Mortimer Adler, How to Read a Book<\/em>, (New York: MJF, 1972), 161.<\/p>\n

[10]<\/a> Rowntree, Kindle Loc 3427.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

I wouldn’t normally post this, but Rowntree does urge us to: “Make a note of the main ideas.” (Kindle 2489). Writing out the main points helped me uncover the argument being made.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Learn How to Study: Developing the Study Skills and Approaches to Learning that Will Help You Succeed in University, Derek Rowntree offers basic and practical concepts to aid learners in assimilating and retaining the vast amounts of material we will encounter in our DMin program.\u00a0 I\u2019ve decided the best way to approach the learning […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[913],"class_list":["post-14679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-rowntree","cohort-lgp8"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/100"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14679"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14679\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14690,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14679\/revisions\/14690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}