Overview

"If you think that the classic phrase ""How hard can it be?"" applies to giving away money, you really should read this book. Even if you don't actually know what you're doing, can't you just wing it and be a successful philanthropist ? As long as you've got some money that for some reason you wish to dispose of. Wait a minute, how do you really measure ""success"" in the philanthropy biz? And why do so many non-profits and NGO's object to having their efforts (using your money) evaluated? In this collection of stories, written as letters to his aunt, Bob Hemphill recounts the challenges, the mis-steps, and the accomplishments of his venture into philanthropy. How to find the right causes, how to negotiate with non-profits about measuring and reporting progress, and how to get over the surprise that comes with such modest requests for accountability being routinely resisted are all subjects discussed in detail, frequently in humorous detail. Hemphill's style is accessible and clear, frequently self-deprecating and always informative. You will learn a lot about wherever he finds himself and whatever he experiences. That experience will be honestly reported. This is not a ""how to give away a million dollars and thus save the world"" self-important, look how smart I am kind of semi-biography book, it's more of a ""look how odd and interesting all this is"" approach to the vagaries of the charitable life, with a humorous slant."

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R. F. Hemphill became an instant energy expert with minimal credentials when he was thrown into the energy business by the White House at the start of the 1973 oil embargo. He subsequently worked at the Tennessee Valley Authority, and for thirty-five years was a senior executive at AES, a global electric power corporation. He founded AES Solar and built it into one of the world's largest solar companies with fifty plants distributed in eight countries around the globe. He was educated at Yale and UCLA and in Vietnam as an infantry platoon leader. Along the way he survived airborne and Special Forces training and four million miles on United, mostly in coach. His previous books are Dust Tea, Dingoes and Dragons, Stories from the Middle Seat and Goats Ate Our Wires. He lives in Encinitas, California with two cats, one of whom tolerates him.

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