social welfare research institute - Boston College

III. What is Distinctive About High-Tech Philanthropy
The focus of the research is on how high-tech wealth holders carry out their
philanthropy, especially how they participate in that highly engaged mode of
philanthropy commonly referred to as “new” or “venture” philanthropy. Our findings
indicate that neither term is strictly accurate. High-tech philanthropy is not so much new
as it is distinctive. As a distinctive form, it is not just venture philanthropy, but
managerial and entrepreneurial philanthropy as well.
What Isn’t New?
We have already mentioned in the introduction that there is a set of elements
surrounding the philanthropy of high-tech donors that properly warrants the appellation
"distinctive." However, these elements are not what commentators regularly mention.
According to the popular view, new philanthropy entails an explicit effort by donors to
apply the lessons learned in business—strategic thinking, focus on measurement,
accountability, scalability, investment and return on investment—to ensure that the
charities they support are effective in producing outcomes, in documenting those
outcomes, and that the nonprofits they support are or become creative risk-takers rather
than quasi-bureaucratic protectors of their organizational survival. We agree that the
intercessional or effect-oriented temperament high-tech wealth holders bring to all their
philanthropic approaches is integral to what high-tech donors look for in a nonprofit or
try to advance when contributing to nonprofit organizations. However, it is not
historically novel for philanthropists to keep an eye on these objectives, in fact,
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