Philanthropists Dole Out Management Help Along With Donations

Entering an arena traditionally considered hands-off to donors, two prominent philanthropists are pressing management and human-resources advice on groups they support, says The New York Times.

Peter B. Lewis, head of Progressive Insurance, set up a nonprofit training and consulting group called the Management Center to help organizations to which he gave overcome what he considered bad practices. Pierre Omidyar, the billionaire founder of eBay, created a team within his philanthropic Omidyar Network to offer similar training to charity executives.

Jerry Hauser, CEO of the Management Center, said such services benefit nonprofit executives who are often put in place “because of their issue expertise” rather than management ability. Leaders of groups that have worked with Mr. Lewis and Mr. Omidyar agreed.

“I could easily make the case that the nonfinancial resources we got from Omidyar were as equally beneficial as the money they gave us,” said Tim Hanstad of Landesa, a charity that works on securing land rights for poor people in rural areas.