Letter from the Publisher: A New Era of Philanthropy
Categories: New Release Letter from the Publisher
What would it look like if foundations reflected on the many ways they actually perpetuate systems of dominance rather than subvert them?
Philanthropy, what can you be?
This is the question I found myself mulling over as I chatted with Dimple Abichandani at the Storia Summit in October 2022. I had joined the summit to give my perspective on publishing to the ten writers who had gathered there under the auspices of Ariane Conrad to start the baby steps of birthing the books that had been germinating inside them. As part of the summit, I got to meet with several of the writers one-on-one to hear their visions for their books and to offer whatever feedback I could.
It was clear from the outset that Dimple had keen clarity about the book she wanted to write. After decades of work in philanthropy, Dimple had grown frustrated with many of the practices and norms endemic to it. She had persisted and led her organizations to make systematic changes to the ways they dispersed grants and interacted with donors and grantees. She noticed that whenever she spoke at conferences about the practices of re-constellating philanthropy, people lined up to talk with her after. She was saying the quiet parts out loud.
As someone who had spent part of his career serving on both sides of the grantmaking table—as a grant writer and then as a grants director—I resonated with Dimple’s vision. I had left the field early on after watching too many nonprofits run through too many gauntlets created, intentionally or not, by the ones holding the wallet. Grantees had to navigate complex mazes not only to get funding but also to “prove” that they had used it “well” by meeting key performance indicators that were often arbitrary, self-serving, and out of touch with the reality of the work on the ground. Nonprofits needed money, and foundations had it, but those transfers of financial resources rarely led to transfers of power.
What would it look like if foundations reflected on the many ways they actually perpetuate systems of dominance rather than subvert them? This was exactly the focus of Dimple’s book, and today it is more pressing than ever in the face of federal clampdowns on nonprofits and the orchestrated backlash to social justice. So, admittedly, even while I was speaking to Dimple in service to her needs and visions, I also knew that this was the kind of book that North Atlantic Books loves to publish: ones by a practitioner in a field written to honor that field’s lineage, and community, by specifically pushing it to evolve.
And so our mutual exploration began. Within six months, I had Dimple’s book proposal in hand. From the first page of the proposal, I could see that Dimple had only sharpened her clarity, describing the book as “part dreaming, part storytelling, part practice, and fully an invitation to meet the urgency of these times with a radically reimagined philanthropy, complete with ten lessons for the next decade and highlights of philanthropic efforts that are modeling the way forward.”
Sign me up!
Three weeks later, we met for breakfast. It was the kind of conversation that sustains you for days, one that had me soon pitching the project to NAB staff. It doesn’t always go that quickly; I just knew with Dimple that she was dead serious, had options, and was operating on a clear track she had built— in her mind and into her own very busy life—to bring this book to life.
Fortunately, our staff found resonance with the project as well, and two weeks later I sent Dimple an offer.
I always have to pinch myself to then hold, as I do now, a finished book that began with a single conversation several years prior. I reckon that is one of the purest pleasures of being a book publisher—holding the solid object in the hand, leafing through the pages, reflecting on all the labor that authors, and our staff, put into the book from contract signing to publication day.
A New Era of Philanthropy: Ten Practices to Transform Wealth into a More Just and Sustainable Future hit bookstores this week, and I have no doubt that it will rock some board rooms, see many dog-eared pages, and be a pivotal document in the evolution of the field. Its promise—how we fund in times of crisis and opportunity—could not come at a better time. With hypocrisy and hate now an American pastime, and waters reaching roiling boils, how foundations disperse their resources is as critical as ever.
Dimple and I exchanged over 80 emails since we first met. Not one-liners and quick hellos—real words written from the heart and from the parts of both of us that care deeply about the world and its becoming. And its unbecoming. In her unforgettable book, Dimple holds a hard mirror up to the face of philanthropy. May it not cower in shame by what it sees there, nor smash the glass in disgust and denial over what it must do to be a truly liberatory force. The world deserves nothing less.
—Tim McKee, publisher of North Atlantic Books
A New Era of Philanthropy
Nationally recognized philanthropic leader Dimple Abichandani revolutionizes the precepts of modern philanthropy. Offering 10 provocative practice shifts, A New Era of Philanthropy engages readers with fresh answers to the question of how philanthropy can meet this high-stakes moment—from reimagining governance to aligning investments to crisis funding and beyond.
About the Author
Tim McKee
Tim came to NAB in 2013 and is honored to serve as publisher. Born in New York City, McKee grew up in Los Angeles and received a BA from Princeton University and an MA in journalism from the University of Missouri. He has worked in the nonprofit sector for his entire career, including serving as the long-time managing editor of The Sun magazine, the grants director for a social-justice foundation in San Francisco, and as a writer for several community-based organizations in California. He has also taught college-level writing and journalism. His book No More Strangers Now: Young Voices from a New South Africa (Dorling Kindersley) was an Honor Book for the Jane Addams Book Award and a Los Angeles Times bestseller. He is happiest when bringing necessary stories to the page.
