Paper proposals are not sufficient. I dare say it is as true for conservative foundations as for liberal foundations. So you don't fund people if you haven't met them or gotten a chance to know them. Of course, you really can't meet with all grantseekers, but you can have a strategy to make yourself generally accessible to many grantseekers initially unknown to you. Speaking of being accessible, let me also mention the responsibility to be intellectually accessible as well as physically accessible.
Open minds are the best defense against dumb grantmaking.
Related to this is a prime responsibility of philanthropy to provide relief, opportunity, and public voices for those people most left out of the American mainstream. Many working poor are doing the best they can for their families, but that often is not enough. Many immigrants work long and hard hours, but their low paying jobs provide only the basics. The mentally ill have been cast out of impersonal institutions onto equally impersonal streets. Glass ceilings do exist for women and minorities.