Giving Compass' Take:

• Governing magazine reflects on the late Philadelphia philanthropist H.F. Lenfest and his approach to philanthropy in the realm of local journalism.

• The takeaway here? Philanthropists can help spur public institutions to take more risks, accelerate progress and pay attention to the things others are neglecting. In this way, the author argues, Lenfest's legacy should live on.

• Here's more on how place-based foundations are supporting local journalism and public media.

The passing of Philadelphia philanthropist H.F. Lenfest in September after decades of generosity to his city seemed to leave a particularly big hole. His philanthropy was capped by his role in forestalling the further decline of the storied Philadelphia Inquirer when, after becoming the newspaper's sole owner following a decade of financial and ownership turmoil, he deeded it to an endowed nonprofit institute.

In addition to helping to modernize the Inquirer, the Lenfest Institute for Journalism is charged with testing business models to sustain local journalism more widely in a digital age. If local journalism thrives a decade from now, the innovations that sustain this institution so vital to communities and their governance will probably have origins in Philadelphia and the Lenfest Institute.

Lenfest's death came at a time when the relationship of philanthropy to the public sector has claimed fresh currency. It is common to hear philanthropy criticized as guilt offerings by rich donors and foundations or, alternately, highly strategic attacks to shrink government or bring a socialist utopia. Rather than wading into that debate, I'd rather reflect on the opportunities for productive alliances between philanthropy and the public sector.

Lenfest's transformative act will not quiet the critics of big philanthropy, but in my mind it exemplifies the type of interventions into public affairs for which philanthropy is best suited. Just as Lenfest expected the Inquirer to sustain itself as a business, smart philanthropy neither tries to replace receding public dollars nor works to disable public-sector institutions. Rather, it aspires to provide opportunity to rethink gnarly problems and to give public institutions the financial breathing room and intellectual capital to test new approaches.

Read the full article about philanthropy's value to the public sector by Feather O'Connor Houstoun at Governing magazine.