The Foundation: A Great American Secret; How Private Wealth is Changing the World

by Joel L. Fleishman (Author)

• New

  Paperback
  2009

  $29.43

  Private foundations have been the dynamo of social change since their invention at the beginning of the last century. Yet just over 10 percent of the public knows they even exist and for those who are aware of them, as well as even those who seek grants from them, their internal workings remain a complete mystery. Joel Fleishman knows the sector like few others, and in this ground-breaking book he explains both the history of foundations,with their fledgling beginnings in the era of the robber barons seeking social respectability,through to the present day. This book shows how, why foundations matters, and how the future of foundations can provide a vital spur to the engine of the American, and the world's, economy,if they are properly established and run.

• Used

  Hardcover
  2007

  $4.85

  The US foundations are worth $32 billion per year. This groundbreaking book shows how they can provide a vital spur to the engine of America's - and the world's - economies if properly established and run. Foundations are a peculiarly American institution with an enormous effect on American society. For over a century they have been a dynamo of social change. Yet this vital sector of the economy is cloaked in secrecy - their decision-making and operations are inscrutable to the point of obscurity - leaving them substantially unaccountable to anyone. Author, Joel Fleishman has been in and around foundations for almost half a century...running them, sitting on their boards and seeking grants from them. In this groundbreaking book, he traces the history of the foundations (which have their roots in the era of the robber barons), tells the story of the most successful initiatives (including the Bill Gates Foundation which is the largest of these organisations today), and explains why it matters. The baby boomer generation is going to participate in the largest transfer of wealth in history when it passes on its assets to its successor generation. The third sector is about to become more powerful than ever.