I’ve appreciated seeing CEP’s leaders contribute thoughtful viewpoints in recent weeks on some of the burning topics facing our field.  I’m thinking specifically about Phil Buchanan’s column about smart approaches to perpetual funding and Kevin Bolduc’s recent article on increasing foundation payouts.

Both pieces added some needed nuance to debates in philanthropy that are at risk of being overrun by black-and-white thinking.

However, I’m concerned that both unintentionally contribute to a broader narrative that prioritizes spending more as the primary solution to our challenges, while overlooking the importance and urgency of spending better.

For context, the foundation I lead — the Michigan Health Endowment Fund — has increased our annual spending in each of the last two years in response to critical, emergent needs. We’re also set up to be a perpetual source of funding to improve the health of Michigan residents, while working in coordination with “spend-down” foundations on aligned priorities.

So, we’ve heard and answered the call to spend more, and we’ve seen first-hand the value of having a diverse philanthropic ecosystem where perpetual and spend-down foundations operate in tandem to leverage their respective strengths.

At the same time, I think foundations in this moment need to be focused more on improving the quality of their giving than they are about increasing the quantity. I believe that holding ourselves accountable to better core spending has much more potential than incremental increases.

Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that the entire U.S. philanthropic sector had increased its output by 20% in 2025, which would be unprecedented in the history of domestic foundation grant output. These new dollars would represent another $23.5 billion in giving.

However — because foundations are just one piece of a much larger philanthropic pie — in terms of total giving alongside individuals and corporations, it would represent only a 3.8% increase in total contributed income for nonprofits.

Read the full article about giving better by Neel Hajra at The Center for Effective Philanthropy.