Strategic Philanthropy – Can Good Intentions & Strategic Investments Co-Mingle?

Quick question – have you ever heard of “strategic philanthropy”? In doing a little investigation, I discovered there are two different – but somewhat parallel – definitions of the term. One definition, in Bill Schambra’s Problem with Evidence-Based Philanthropy, defines strategic philanthropy as “the setting of clear goals, developing sound evidence-based strategies for achieving them, measuring progress along the way to achieving them, and determining whether you were actually successful in reaching the goals.”  The other definition, at Do Well Do Good, moves the goals into a different alignment – "the practice of companies by which they target their respective charitable . . .