Passion - Not Strategy - Drives Successful Giving

For years, a choir of philanthropic players, from individual donors and foundations to scholars and watchdog groups, has been singing a similar tune: Philanthropy should have measurable "impact," meaning that grants should produce documented results and certifiable outcomes.

My colleagues and I have contributed to that refrain for well over a decade, praising the benefits of "strategic philanthropy" and trying to put it into practice. But I'll confess that the trend worries me. I am concerned that philanthropy is becoming too formulaic, too linear, too metric -- in other words, that the emphasis on process is stifling creativity and squelching the very kind of social entrepreneurship that new generations of donors and grant makers claim to favor.

Process should be a servant of intuitiveness, values, instincts, and passions -- and not the other way around.