Quick Tips: Learn How to Give from the Buffetts

Talk about a sincere and thoughtful philanthropist: Warren Buffett.  Oh, wait...we're not talking about him, even though he's a bit more famous than his older sister, Doris.

Doris Buffett and her grandson, Alex Rozek have been interested in making more people into philanthropists - people who are not just charitable with their money, but think strategically about how to support the causes and organizations they care about the most. [Aside: the development shrink has chosen not to be the grammarian stickler - but there's a part of me screaming to correct the above sentence to "...about which they care the most."  But it just doesn't sound good, even if it's proper.  Forgive me!]

Anyway, Doris and Alex have been funding college courses to teach philanthropy for years.  This summer they're embarking on a very exciting new chapter of that work: the first Philanthropy MOOC.


MOOC stands for Massively Open Online Course, and it's all the buzz in higher education at the moment, as all the big players try to figure out how to use this new tool and reach the masses with their offerings.  But this is, obviously, a pretty big deal - they're launching this through their own foundation, with some impressive universities as partners.  They genuinely want to reach anyone and everyone who's interested.

You should be interested.

Not only is this AT MINIMUM a great way to gain some insight into how (some) big philanthropists think, it's a chance to put yourself in the shoes of someone giving away money rather than asking for it, and will help you refine your message when you go back to fundraising.  AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, it sounds like they've figured out a way to keep the most unique part of their standard college course: giving students a pot of money to distribute.

Read more about the Learning by Giving Foundation here: www.learningbygivingfoundation.org

I signed up.  Hope to "see" you in class!