What Does It Take to Spend Down Successfully?

Increasing numbers of grantmakers are opting for a spend-down strategy - meaning they intend to give away all of their philanthropic resources within a specific, limited timeframe and then close their doors. Some want to "give while living" and be personally involved in their philanthropy. Others see spending down or sunsetting as a way to become more agile and flexible in their grantmaking. But most hope that by exhausting their resources in relatively short order, they will be able to have a larger and more immediate impact on problems they see as simply too pressing to delay action on.