WIT AND WISDOM:

Unleashing the Philanthropic Imagination
By Mark D. Constantine

Presented by Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy
May 2009


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Read Advanced Praise for Wit and Wisdom from an inter-generational set of philanthropy and nonprofit leaders


ABOUT THE BOOK

Wit and Wisdom: Unleashing the Philanthropic Imagination captures the thoughts, anxieties, sensibilities, and sensitivities of philanthropic leaders who have worked with creativity and persistence to address issues of race, equity and poverty throughout their distinguished careers. The leaders interviewed include Ambassador James Joseph, Linetta Gilbert, Tom Wacaster, Gayle Williams, Sybil Jordan Hampton, Jack Murrah, Sherry Magill, Karl Stauber, and Lynn Huntley, with a closing essay by Emmett Carson.

My greatest hope is that the next generation of philanthropic leaders — be they program officers at foundations, pastors at local churches who mobilize congregational resources to address community challenges, members of the growing number of giving circles taking root throughout the country, second- and third-generation family members who stand to inherit significant wealth, or wealth managers who advise clients about their philanthropic investments—take time to read, reflect on, and discuss these interviews. One of my great regrets about the philanthropic and nonprofit sectors is the limited attention we pay to passing down wisdom from one generation to the next. Too much is lost by our collective failure to capture — in oral or written form — the lessons learned by our foremothers and forefathers. I hope this text makes a small dent in addressing this shortcoming.

Excerpted from Wit and Wisdom

This book is being printed in a limited first print. It will be distributed free of charge to all participants of the EPIP Next Generation Pre-Conference and the Council on Foundations 60th Annual Conference (May 4-6, 2009).


DOWNLOAD THE BOOK

To ensure that next generation leaders, the foundation field, and a broader public have full access to this book, EPIP has made Wit and Wisdom available for free on this web page. Below you may download the entire book in an interactive .pdf, or download chapters as separate .pdfs.

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Download the entire book as an interactive .pdf.

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To The Reader

Ambassador James A. Joseph Interview

Linetta Gilbert Interview

C. Thompson Wacaster Interview

Gayle Williams Interview

Sybil Jordan Hampton Interview

Jack E. Murrah Interview

Sherry P. Magill Interview

Karl N. Stauber Interview

Lynn Huntley Interview

A Final Thought by Emmett D. Carson


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mark Constantine works with foundations and nonprofit organizations on issues related to governance, strategy, and evaluation. His clients have included CFED, Dďmos, First Nations Development Institute, Ford Foundation, Foundation for the Mid South, Fund for Theological Education, Lilly Endowment, Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Umatilla Tribal Community Foundation. In January 2005, the Jessie Ball duPont Fund appointed him the organization’s first Senior Fellow.

Constantine is author of Travelers on the Journey: Pastors Talk about Their Lives and Commitments (William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2005) and Where Hope and History Rhyme: Reflections and Findings from the Mid South Commission to Build Philanthropy (2005).

He holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University and a Master of Theological Studies degree from Duke Divinity School. He was a 2006/2007 Fellow of the Emerging Leaders Program directed by the Center for Leadership and Public Values at the University of Cape Town and Duke University.


ABOUT EPIP

Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy (EPIP) is the national association by and for the next generation of grantmakers. Its mission is to strengthen the next generation of grantmakers, in order to advance effective social justice philanthropy. Founded in 2001, EPIP engages over 1,000 emerging leaders as individual and institutional members in its nine city- and state-wide chapters and beyond.

EPIP provides members with unique networking, leadership development, and advocacy. One of these services is the establishment of inter-generational learning platforms, the latest of which is the book Wit and Wisdom: Unleashing the Philanthropic Imagination by Mark D. Constantine.