From the book, Philanthropy:  Voluntary Action for the Public Good, by Robert L. Payton

This book grows out of and expands along a discussion paper entitled Major Challenges to Philanthropy, commissioned by Independent Sector for its annual meeting in 1984. Without the personal intervention of Brian O'Connell, President of Independent Sector, there would have been neither opportunity nor encouragement to write what is presented here as Part I.

James A. Fisher, then President of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, and Robert L. Gale, President of the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges, persuaded ACE/Macmillan to publish this expanded version. The late James Lipscomb, then President of the George Gund Foundation, provided funds for a research assistant, Susan Leicher.

Virginia A. Hodgkinson, Vice President for Research of Independent Sector, has also been a constant source of suggestions and support and is the author of the chapter on the status of research in this volume.

James Murray, Director of Publications for the American Council on Education, brought his rich background in publishing to bear at crucial points—as the labor pains became unbearable, so to speak.

The first versions of the manuscript were shared with—imposed upon—three colleagues and good friends at Exxon Education Foundation: Caryn G. Korshin editor and critic of infinite patience; William J. McKeough, word processing adviser, wit, and old friend from Hofstra University; and Arnold R. Shore, now Executive Director of the Foundation and an endless source of insights into the meaning behind the murky convolutions of my prose. John Simon made detailed and helpful comments on the original paper and on one of the essays in Part II. Robert Parsley prepared the index.

These formal acknowledgements are as minimal as I can make them. To do more than that would require a description of the network of scholars, professionals, and volunteers in which I play a small but eager part. Even to list the organizations would require a page; the names of individuals would expand that to a chapter of its own. I feel particularly indebted to the people who have so generously helped me with advice, counsel, and occasional criticism.

And so I will choose to fumble for excuses for not naming names beyond those few directly concerned with bringing this book into being.

Because there are traces of my tenure with Exxon Education Foundation throughout the book, I must add a disclaimer and stress again that the opinions offered are mine and not necessarily those of my former employer. Even so, the high value I continue to put on corporate philanthropy owes a great deal to Exxon's proud tradition in the field.