I recently participated in a lunch plenary at the Center for Effective Philanthropy’s (CEP) “Aligning for Impact” conference. My fellow speakers included Matthew Bishop, whose recent book “Philanthrocapitalism” was a largely positive review of business influence on philanthropy, Michael Edwards, who wrote a piece critical of “philanthrocapitalism”, and Gara LaMarche, President of Atlantic Philanthropies.

Sean Stannard-Stockton from Tactical Philanthropy put up a shortened version of my speech from the plenary in his post, Carla Javits on Philanthrocapitalism.

It was months ago when Phil Buchanan, the leader of the CEP invited me to his conference to debate with Michael and Matthew about their opposing views of the value of “philanthrocapitalism” – the phrase Michael coined. While I consulted with colleagues about what to say during the run up to the conference, capitalism of the distinctly non-philanthro kind imploded.

In the aftermath, at this – their first face to face meeting – the putative pugilists were somewhat subdued in battle. Matthew did draw a bright line between his view that business practices could be usefully adapted to philanthropy, and Michael’s opposing and unvarnished critique of that notion. Michael believes it is not only benign, but harmful to the social sector by shifting resources away from creative, long-term advocacy and programs. Gara highlighted the importance of continuing to support social justice movements, while encouraging them to greater effectiveness and achievement. The question was raised – do social capital markets reduce support for the grassroots if they drive investments to the ‘best’ (e.g. proven) organizations.

My basic points? There’s not one ‘silver bullet’ – business or philanthropic methods; capitalists or civil society. Progress requires contributions of business, government, philanthropy, nonprofits, labor, academics, advocates, citizens. No sector is immune to dysfunction. The benefits of working together across sectors include transparency, accountability, challenges to orthodoxy; and the value of the social sector’s insistent focus on the common good and the public interest.

I suggested fewer gatherings of philanthropy or nonprofits only, more with business and government. It really struck me that at this gathering of philanthropic leaders we had so little discussion of philanthropy’s role in leveraging the billions of dollars in the stimulus package, and the new Office of Social Innovation in the White House. I suggested we become ‘multilingual’, tolerate and understand sometimes clashing motives, and be prepared to walk away without burning bridges. I ended with a story from a colleague. As one of the people who had created a local marketplace in Africa said – after the market was destroyed in the wake of local rioting and the people had requested loans and aid to rebuild but were instead receiving a trickle of traditional emergency and food aid – “Just don’t let me be a beggar.” We need to do better.

On day 2, my colleague Jason Trimiew and I had early morning coffee with some of our peers who wanted to talk about leveraging the stimulus package. A lively discussion about the opportunities for scale, and the day to day challenges of working with government ensued with participants from Craigslist Foundation, the James Irvine Foundation, the Case Foundation, and REDF’s board member Julia Lopez who also runs the College Access Foundation.

Then Jim Collins spoke, and reminded us of the premises of his monograph “Good to Great and the Social Sectors.” He restated his view that the social sector should not be more like business, but that it should aspire to greatness. The key ingredients – focus and discipline. He suggested that we make not only a ‘to do’ list, but also a ‘not to do’ list. He told a story about a military officer who had been imprisoned and tortured in Vietnam, and survived by having faith that he would eventually return home – knowing that that moment of peril would be the seminal time of growth and strength in his life, while also acknowledging the bitter truth and reality that he would not escape quickly. A sobering but inspiring lesson for today. Jim ended by urging us, as he had been admonished by his mentor Peter Drucker, to go out and do something useful. And out the door we went to follow this good advice.