My desired outcome from this discussion is to create a platform supporting the new emerging Thoughtful Funders. This platform should consider the following:

• What are the tools necessary for the Thoughtful Funders to transition away from relying on old infrastructures?
• How do we connect Thoughtful Funders around the world, enabling them to share successes and failures? and finally,
• What areas should Thoughtful Funders be involved in to have maximum impact?
• More issues to be considered in our meeting November 14, 2018 in Toronto.

We started by defining philanthropy as love of man, and love of humanity should undisputedly be a good thing. Yet, not everybody agrees. The proposed new Thoughtful Funder finds herself disconnected from the cause she is asked to champion and fund. As was noted above, critics from the left and the right question the rationale for subsidizing charitable giving and worry about the political power of large foundations.

The key issue is that we do not know enough. We do not have good models to evaluate the social efficiency of philanthropic activities and its effects on the givers. Most research aimed at evaluating the social efficiency of philanthropic activities focuses on the individual recipients and at times the communities they reside in. Peter Drucker famously stated that "If you can't measure it, you can't improve it." More and better data are necessary for evaluating and improving philanthropy; and better data should include the impact of giving on the giver. Many foundations ask for independent evaluations of the activities of their grantees, and donors have tools for evaluating the financial efficiency of charities. However, no one is asking the donors-the Thoughtful Funders-how does philanthropy impact you, the donor?

More research is needed to address this topic to enable the next-generation Thoughtful Funder.

Is anybody interested in funding it?