RAGs

Philanthropy in the Northwest
Few philanthropy observers have missed noticing that the northwestern section of the United States is home to a few trends.

Those trends have led what was formerly known as the Pacific Northwest Grantmakers Forum to make a change last October not just in its name, but also in the services it provides. The regional association of grantmakers, now called Philanthropy Northwest, is planning to launch a program in March, in conjunction with The Philanthropic Initiative, to provide consulting services to individual donors and to member organizations.

More and more people in the region are becoming wealthy through the high-tech industry, are newly wealthy and relatively young, and have a tendency to be more hands-on in their grantmaking.

Executive Director Julia Kitross says, “Our old name just didn’t jive with what new donors think of themselves as. We stayed away from the term ‘philanthropists’ because new wealthholders don’t think of themselves as philanthropists. But if you ask them what they do, the term ‘philanthropy’ comes back into the picture.”

The changes in name and services were spurred from lessons learned by the Northwest Giving Project, a project funded by the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers’ New Ventures in Philanthropy initiative. Its aim is to reach out to new audiences to promote the creation of new foundations, corporate giving programs and other kinds of grantmaking funds.

What was learned in the process of developing and holding the project’s workshops and training sessions is that people who are new to philanthropy think about becoming donors for quite a long time before they decide to donate money. They also learned that people aren’t always told how they can donate and then often don’t know first steps to implementing their philanthropy.

“More people are giving individually without going through planned giving vehicles, says Kitross.

She adds, “We started thinking about consultants in our region who we could recommend to these new donors. We were also asked for consultants by members who are re-examining how they are doing their work. Philanthropists were looking for a consultant ‘good housekeeping seal of approval.’ We found there were very few whom we could recommend—the demand was exceeding the supply.”

So the RAG came up with the concept of starting a consulting practice out of its offices and went through the process of developing a business plan. That started a conversation with The Philanthropy Initiative (TPI) in Boston.

Says Kitross, the two groups will provide consulting services with “TPI’s tools and consulting services for strategic philanthropy and Philanthropy Northwest’s knowledge of the local environment.”

For more information, contact Philanthropy Northwest at 2815 Second Avenue, Suite 290, Seattle, WA 98121; 206/770-9423. Web site address: www.PhilanthropyNW.org.

Philanthropy Thriving In Nation’s Capital
The Great Northwest is not the only area in the United States with a strong philanthropy.

The average taxpayer in the Washington, DC, area contributes 3.9 percent of his or her total income to charity, giving 46 percent more than the national average. And it’s estimated that Washington-area individuals, foundations
and corporations gave more than $6.2 billion in charity in 1998.

That’s what the first Washington metropolitan regional comprehensive report on giving, called “A Region of Givers,” found. The study was done by the Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers, which hopes to use the information as a benchmark for future studies on giving in the area.

The study also found that 

• area foundation assets increased by more than $10 billion in six years, with the region’s foundations giving more than $771 million in grants in 1999, 
• the number of grantmaking institutions increased by 46 percent, and 
• giving from the top 25 corporate donors also increased by nearly 24 percent from 1998 to 1999.

The report says the information and technology revolution is ushering in a time of unprecedented wealth and prosperity in the region. And that the Washington area is incubating new forms of philanthropy such as venture philanthropy, e-philanthropy and giving circles.

A copy of the report is available at www.wrag.org or by contacting the Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers, 1400 Sixteenth Street, NW, Suite 740, Washington, DC 20036; 202/939-3438.