Recently, philanthropic scholar Bruce Sievers spoke at the opening of the Mandell Center’s new building at Case Western Reserve University. His talk was titled, “Private Means for Public Ends: The Conundrum of Civil Society”. Sievers and others have done thought provoking work over the past few years on this topic.
——
Sievers is currently writing a book with the working title, “Between Public and Private: Civil Society, Philanthropy and the Fate of the Commons”.

For other commentary on this topic, see

Joel Fleischman’s “The Foundation: A Great American Secret–How Private Wealth is Changing the World” (New York: PublicAffairs Books). 2007.
http://fds.duke.edu/db/aas/PublicPolicy/faculty/jlf

… and Pablo Eisenberg’s (National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy) retort:
“Fleishman’s World: An Essay”
http://www.ncrp.org/blog/2007/03/fleishmans-worldan-essay.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pablo_Eisenberg

… and Sievers’ lecture “If Pigs Had Wings: the Appeals and Limits of Venture Philanthropy”
forum.nesst.org/ Presentations%5CIf%20Pigs%20Had%20Wings%20IVPF%20Version%20Oct2001.doc

——-
Chris Carmody / Carmody & Company
www.christophercarmody.com