Rockefeller Foundation President Dr. Judith Rodin on the state of philanthropy in Huffington Post.
When I took the job as the president of the Rockefeller Foundation in 2005, philanthropy was facing a kind of identity crisis, and had been for a while. The rules had changed since our founder, John D. Rockefeller, opened the doors of the Rockefeller Foundation, 100 years ago -- dawning modern American philanthropy. In his day, philanthropy was the biggest kid on the block. But in the mid-20th century the landscape began to shift. Multilateral funders, social entrepreneurs, even socially-minded business had joined the businesses of solving social and environmental problems. On the whole, this was great news. But philanthropy was wondering: Where did we fit?
Nearly a decade later, and after some soul searching, I believe philanthropy has found its identity once again, as a convener, a risk-taker, a piloter of good ideas, and a partner in bringing those ideas to scale….