Foundations must more carefully evaluate their grantmaking, and individual Americans must more closely monitor the charities they support. Donors and grantmakers must distinguish between the roles of charity and government. Charity, at its best, can excel at this task. The report deliberately avoids addressing certain public policy issues affecting the nonprofit sector. This is certainly true.
Large foundations can begin to invest more in effective local charities, including faith-based ones.
Individual Americans, corporations, and religious institutions can likewise target their money more carefully. Yet some urgently needed changes in the nonprofit sector will not occur without changes in government policy. Still, the report accurately identifies many of the problems that beset the nonprofit sector today and offers valuable, common-sense guidelines for revitalizing giving and volunteering. It should help shape the nonprofit sector in the years to come as more Americans debate the role of philanthropy and come to recognize its enormous potential.