Having spent my whole career in fundraising, I used to think it would be fun to work on the other side – giving the money away, rather than seeking it. I remember I applied for a fellowship to work at the National Endowment for Arts in Washington, DC, when I was in my twenties. (I didn’t get it.)

I’ve met all kinds of “philanthropists” through my work over the years – from extremely wealthy individuals (think Maya Rudolph in “Loot”) to highly-educated subject matter experts at large private legacy foundations like Hearst and Ford.

I think I’m past the point where I’d want to switch careers to work for a government agency or a large private foundation, but if someone needed my help giving away a couple million a year, I’d be down.