Is It Public, or Is It Private?

Increasingly when it comes to giving, it's a little bit of both

By Shelly Banjo*

Traditionally, when it comes to philanthropy, there has been private philanthropy, and there has been government philanthropy, and rarely did the two meet.

But that division is now changing, as a growing number of philanthropists are looking at new opportunities in so-called public-private partnerships.

Take global financier George Soros. In August, his Open Society Institute and Soros Foundations Network gave $35 million to New York state to help fund a cash payment to poor families with school-age children. Qualifying families in New York got $200 each after Mr. Soros's gift enabled Albany to receive $140 million in matching federal funds, part of the federal stimulus bill, which otherwise wouldn't have been available.

"Government and philanthropists have been on parallel tracks for decades trying to solve bigger problems, and now the tracks are coming together," says Eric Kessler, founder of Arabella Philanthropic Investment Advisors in Washington, D.C. Mr. Kessler says he is working with a number of wealthy families and foundations on establishing public-private partnerships.

* Ms. Banjo is a reporter for Dow Jones Newswires in New York.

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