Humorous and yet insightful.
A must read for anyone from the donor side(though i doubt they would appreciate being told what to do) and from grant seekers side.
Fantastic and funny, an inviting dressing-up to what is basically a cutting critique of the true pain and anguish funders cause entrepreneurs every day. Hope many, many impact investors and donors read it!
I’d add another commandment, perhaps a summary of all: Thou shalt act with humility, as impact work is hard and the power you wield from holding the dollars is illusory. Be a great, smart, dedicated ego-free catalyst and then get out of the way!
We don’t talk about this enough in the investment realm either. We assume philanthropists should be nicer but regularly expect investors to be demanding. But many impact investors are both - philanthropists working in impact, and they can bring too much of the ego part of philanthropy to the investment side. Really strong investors, as we have studied many times over the years, are often quiet, careful, respectful people who work well in teams and thus are the most valuable board members or advisors you can have. If you are an entrepreneur looking for impact investing capital, watch out for the loud, the press-craving, the dominant, the flashy, the debutant impact investors. They are the ones likely to abuse you the most. Look instead for angels and fund managers who quietly and passionately do their work, making connections and solving problems behind the scenes. There are hundreds of them, and they often don’t tweet every day!
love the humour, at first I was a bit wide eyed but then i caught on. I have to say I agree with 9 of the commandments except this one “Thou Shalt Not Restrict Thy Funds”. I think it is necessary to restrict funding inorder to reach more people or more projects or organisations that way you dont concentrate you impact to a fewer organizations.
COMMENTS
BY Louis
ON April 11, 2015 01:04 PM
Humorous and yet insightful.
A must read for anyone from the donor side(though i doubt they would appreciate being told what to do) and from grant seekers side.
BY Cathy Clark
ON April 12, 2015 04:04 AM
Fantastic and funny, an inviting dressing-up to what is basically a cutting critique of the true pain and anguish funders cause entrepreneurs every day. Hope many, many impact investors and donors read it!
I’d add another commandment, perhaps a summary of all: Thou shalt act with humility, as impact work is hard and the power you wield from holding the dollars is illusory. Be a great, smart, dedicated ego-free catalyst and then get out of the way!
We don’t talk about this enough in the investment realm either. We assume philanthropists should be nicer but regularly expect investors to be demanding. But many impact investors are both - philanthropists working in impact, and they can bring too much of the ego part of philanthropy to the investment side. Really strong investors, as we have studied many times over the years, are often quiet, careful, respectful people who work well in teams and thus are the most valuable board members or advisors you can have. If you are an entrepreneur looking for impact investing capital, watch out for the loud, the press-craving, the dominant, the flashy, the debutant impact investors. They are the ones likely to abuse you the most. Look instead for angels and fund managers who quietly and passionately do their work, making connections and solving problems behind the scenes. There are hundreds of them, and they often don’t tweet every day!
BY Peter Gasca
ON April 12, 2015 03:56 PM
Awesome!
BY Ruth
ON April 14, 2015 11:22 AM
Outrageous AND quite brilliant!
BY Hulk Joshua
ON April 18, 2015 08:57 PM
love the humour, at first I was a bit wide eyed but then i caught on. I have to say I agree with 9 of the commandments except this one “Thou Shalt Not Restrict Thy Funds”. I think it is necessary to restrict funding inorder to reach more people or more projects or organisations that way you dont concentrate you impact to a fewer organizations.
BY Paul Shoemaker
ON April 19, 2015 03:41 AM
Amen
BY Kevin jones
ON April 19, 2015 08:44 AM
This is exactly right
BY Kevin jones
ON April 19, 2015 08:47 AM
And the ego comment is right on
BY Stephen Viederman
ON April 20, 2015 01:35 PM
The overriding commandment is “Thous shalt listen, not talk.”
BY Paul Hofmann
ON April 30, 2015 03:36 PM
Truly exceptional and wise commandments followed by insightful comments.