Money Well Spent ― A Strategic Plan for Smart Philanthropy

Philanthropy is a booming business, with hundreds of billions of dollars committed to the social sector each year. Money Well Spent, an award-winning guide on how to structure philanthropy so that it really makes a difference, offers a comprehensive and crucial resource for individual donors, foundations, non-profits, and scholars who focus on and teach others about this realm.

Behind every successful grant is a smart strategy. Paul Brest and Hal Harvey draw on the experiences of hundreds of foundations and non-profits to explain how to deliver on every dollar. They present the essential tools to help readers create and test effective plans for achieving demonstrable results. Brest and Harvey tackle thorny issues, such as how to choose among different forms of funding, how to measure progress, and when to abandon a project that isn't working.

The second edition accounts for a decade of progress: a rise in impact investing, the advent of pay-for-success programs, the maturation of impact evaluation, and the emergence of a new generation of mega-donors. Today, the notion of results-driven philanthropy is more important than ever. With this book, the social sector has the techniques it needs to deliver on that idea with impact.

Paul Brest is Former Dean and Professor Emeritus at Stanford Law School, a Lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, Co-Director of the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society, and Co-Director of the Stanford Law and Policy Lab. He was President of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation from 2000-2012.Hal Harvey is the CEO of Energy Innovation, a San Francisco-based energy and environmental policy firm. Previously, he was founder and CEO of ClimateWorks Foundation, a network of foundations that promote polices to reduce the threat of climate change; Environment Program Director at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation; and founder and President of the Energy Foundation, a philanthropy supporting policy solutions that advance renewable energy and energy efficiency. He has also set up foundations in China, Europe, and India.