Chapter Two
Grantmaking: The Human Factor
Above all other aspects of foundation work, I would put the human factor. I mean by this the attitudes and behavior of foundation staff members. If they are arrogant, self-important, dogmatic, conscious of power and status, or filled with a sense of their own omniscience—traits which the stewardship of money tends to bring out in some people—the foundation they serve cannot be a good one. If, on the other hand, they have genuine humility, are conscious of their own limitations, are aware that money does not confer wisdom, are humane, intellectually alive and curious people—men and women who above all else are eager to learn from others—the foundation they serve will probably be a good one. In short, the human qualities of its staff may in the end be far more important to what a foundation accomplishes than any other considerations.
PIFER, 1973
The passage of more than a quarter-century has not eroded an iota of truth from Alan Pifer's insight that grantmaking is ineluctably a human enterprise. It follows from this truth that the quality of any foundation's work, and the amount of positive change that it can effect in the world, is directly dependent on the capabilities of its employees. And of all these employees, no position matters more than that of the program officer. Everything that the foundation knows of its grantees—and everything that the grantees know of the foundation—ultimately filters through this individual. Program officers are truly at the vital center of the entire enterprise.
Because all roads in philanthropy lead to (and through) program officers, it matters greatly what kind of people they are, how well they can resist the peculiar temptations of philanthropy, how they treat applicants and grantees, and what kind of qualities they need to excel at their position. Surprisingly little attention has been paid to these matters, and philanthropy has suffered from this oversight. It is time—in fact, past time—that such issues receive the consideration they deserve.
It must be acknowledged at the outset that the sheer number of foundations and the bewildering variety of their interests render it all but impossible to come up with a universal set of best practices that will fit all program officers, in all settings, at all times. There are, nonetheless, a certain number of generic challenges and a certain level of general skills and aptitudes that characterize efficient, ethical, and humane ways to conduct grantmaking. Perhaps by laying out some tentative definitions of these challenges, skills, and aptitudes, we can work toward generally accepted guidelines for good practice for program officers.