We need philanthropy and the nonprofits it supports right now. We really do.

After all, we have a federal government that is highly dysfunctional and (as I write this) currently partially shut down, fundamental democratic institutions and individual rights that are under attack, and a business sector that, while performing better since the Great Recession, seems too often focused on short-term profits and shareholder value over all else.

There is much urgent work to be done.

Yet, many in philanthropy appear totally consumed with self-critique. I hear it in my discussions with foundation staff and I see it, each day, in my social media feeds.

Critique is healthy, of course. It fuels learning and improvement. For years, especially during the first decade of this century, there wasn’t enough critique of philanthropy, as a number of observers have noted. Media coverage was often fawning, touting the work of new donors who hadn’t really accomplished anything yet but were lauded for bringing their “business savvy” to philanthropy — as if success in the one area would predict success in the other (typically, it didn’t). In her excellent 2016 book, Policy Patrons: Philanthropy, Education Reform, and the Politics of Influence, Megan Tompkins-Stange notes that the prevailing view of that time was to “trust the billionaires.”

So, as she and others — notably historian Ben Soskis in this thoughtful 2014 essay in The Atlantic — have argued, tough questions about the work of big givers are crucially important. I certainly agree. Indeed, I have often sought to be a constructive critic of foundations and donors who, for example, seek to impose “solutions” in a top-down manner. And CEP has worked, over its more than 17 years of existence, to raise tough questions — rooted in data — about how philanthropy can do better.

I think critique is less productive, however, when it’s based in misunderstandings, incomplete or non-existing evidence, or exaggerations. It can lead to misguided reforms, distract from actual problems, and take our attention away from increasing the effectiveness of crucial philanthropic efforts.

Read the full article putting critiques in perspective by Phil Buchanan at The Center for Effective Philanthropy.