Bill Clinton: Remaking Philanthropy

A recent article in the Atlantic Monthly, (Oct. 07) by Jonathan Rauch, explores the new world of philanthropy according to Bill Clinton.

Rauch describes a meeting of the Clinton Foundation's staff:

The lobby is a forest of pinstripe suits and smart skirts....The scene could be mistaken for a convocation at any cutting-edge business consultancy or investment-banking house or money-management firm. But all of these people are working for a fraction of what they could be earning....And their business plan is not to trade derivatives, or launch a hedge fund, or consult on outsourcing, but to stop global warming....And the chairman of their firm is Bill Clinton, who, somewhat to his own surprise, aims to repurpose business methods and business culture to solve the world's problems--and who hopes to reinvent philanthropy while he is at it.

Clinton's philanthropy has more to do with ideas than with money. Unlike the Gates Foundation, which has billions of dollars to put toward global problems, Clinton's fortune lies in his ability to bring people together--the idea people and the money people--to solve those problems.

How does he do it?

• The Clinton Foundation: Bridging the Gap Between Public and Private

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