Quotes from Joel L. Fleishman

One of the most infuriating traits of some philanthropoids is their practice of dragging out grantmaking decisions beyond any reasonable time frame, while failing to offer any clear signals about the real likelihood of approval. When the proposal has been solicited by the foundation in the first place—which is usually the case nowadays—this behavior is even more reprehensible.

Perhaps the outlook of the social entrepreneurs is best captured in the words of the great city planner and architect Daniel Burnham: "Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men's blood and probably will themselves not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will not die.

Foundations are dandy things, but the truth is few institutions are as complacent and potentially unaccountable to the real world as private foundations. When I was a public official, my dealings with philanthropy often left me with the question—who do they think they are?

However, in 2004 there were only some seven hundred community foundations in the United States and almost three thousand corporate foundations, so the overwhelming number of the approximately 68,000 American foundations are independent foundations that are effectively unaccountable to any outside force.)