Funding For-Profit Philanthropy

Behemoth foundations like Google.org, Kauffman and Skoll are pouring money into money-making organizations.

Sometimes an NGO just can’t get the job done, according to Google.org’s Linda Segre. Her foundation recently moved a project in Tanzania into private, for-profit hands because they were better positioned in the community than the NGO Google had funded to provide the desired services.

And Google’s not alone. Kauffman’s Lesa Mitchell notes that recent shifts in VC funding to later-stage companies has spurred philanthropic funding of early-stage startups, particularly in life sciences, where R&D has traditionally been reserved for universities and governments.

Adam Smith would be proud.

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