Investment-management

This book does enable donors to learn and accurately negotiate the technical details of sophisticated charitable giving, but it stops short of really guiding or "empowering" them. For one, it fails to celebrate and build upon the motivating excitement of why donors give and how the nonprofit sector is so vital and inspiring. Example: The words policy or advocacy are never mentioned as charitable options or types of programs. It's a dull read: donors must practice "due diligence." The message: giving money away is such hard, complicated, serious boring work you will wonder what happened to the joy of giving and the joy of charitable results. Second, the authors inexplainably ignore the option of using community foundations. Third, much valuable information is omitted: There isn't any mention of the many services of the Council of Foundations or similar helpful organizations. Are 501(c)(4) organizations eligible for gifts? We're not told. In the whole text I could find only two web sites mentioned! Nor does the book offer any referral section or recommended reading. Venture philanthropy - no mention! Fourth, instructing donors they "must" visit the charity's site, meet its executive team, AND examine all its core literature before deciding to give is extreme. Ugh.

Investing in Charity: A Donor's Guide to Charitable Giving
By Ron Jordan and Katelyn L. Quynn
John Wiley and Sons, Inc. 2001

Reviewed by Norman Olshansky: President
NFP Consulting Resources, Inc.
Sarasota, Florida

If you are looking for a resource that explains the various methods of charitable giving and can be used to help donors (or beginning development professionals) determine which is the best approach or instrument for their personal use, "Investing in Charity" can be a most helpful addition to your library.

The authors promote the book by claiming it is written for modest as well as wealthy donors. Personally, I believe this book can best be used to help donors who are considering "major" gifts or who plan to make a large number of significant gifts. The book can help them determine how to maximize the impact of their giving for their favorite charities and themselves. Even though the introductory chapters on donor motivation, selecting a charity and how charities function are too simplistic for a major donor, the rest of the book can be very valuable as it relates to the various methods of giving.

I especially liked the way the authors go into detail on planned gifts, trusts, and annuities. They give excellent explanations of the variety, benefits and liabilities of each method, from the perspective of the charity and the donor. The sections on tax implications are also presented in clear and helpful terms.

Equally helpful, are their chapters on Private Foundations, Supporting Organizations and Donor-Advised Philanthropic Funds.

Planned giving, estate planning, trusts, gifts of closely held stock, gifts of non cash assets, insurance, etc. can be complicated and overwhelming. Helping a potential donor understand how they work and the benefits of these instruments could turn, what would have been a 5 figure gift, into a 6 or 7 figure gift.

Each chapter ends with a helpful checklist and series of questions which can help direct the donor to the sources contained therein. In addition, examples are given of specific language which can be used for those who want to deed property or make testamentary gifts. Helpful information is also given on the use of charitable giving as a tool to enhance retirement planning.

An extensive index at the end, adds to the usefulness of the book as a resource guide.

This book will get good use in my library. I give it 4 stars.

While Lowenstein's account of the Long-Term Capital Management debacle is more fascinating, Dunbar's book provides more "meat" for those interested in the backdrop of the historical event. Starting with a brief history of speculation and progressing to finance theory, "Inventing Money" places the Long-Term saga in a historical context. Indeed, almost half of the text has nothing to do with Long-Term directly, but Long-Term was not created in isolation. People from academia and "the Street" made its existence possible, and this book chronicles its development very well.

A bit more technical than "When Genius Failed," this book gives the reader lots of background material on the theory behind what Long-Term was supposed to do: namely, arbitrage. As a Ph.D. student of financial economics, I found Dunbar's explanations easy to understand, but I can also see that they will be quite obfuscating to non-specialists in this area. The second part, about Long-Term's dealings, is easier to understand for everyone. While his account of what transpired to Long-Term is not as vivid as Lowenstein's, I think Dunbar does a laudable job at keeping the story flowing. BTW, the paperback addition has a thoroughly updated last chapter, "Aftermath."

If you are interested in the Long-Term story, both books are worth keeping. If you have to choose, go with "Inventing Money" if you are also interested in the history of finance theory and financial engineering; if you prefer an "insider's view," "When Genius Failed" would be a better choice.

Dunbar does a wonderful job in recounting the rise and fall of Long Term Capital. This book not only tactfully interweaves the character of the powerful wall street players with their intricate and ingenious strategies, it also effectively accomplishes presesnting the macroeconomic landscape for the reader through well chosen examples from various historical periods. Suspenseful yet fascinating events keep the reader digging through the pages. Though by no means light, armed with basic knowledge in financial derivatives, the reader can easily appreciate the complex positions taken by LTCM, but more importantly, see how these artificially engineered financial instruments, when designed "properly", can generate such enormous impact on an international scale. The story only touches the surface of the vastly unlimited world of financial engineering, but it is inspiring to read about 7 finance geniuses attempt to create an empire capable of manipulating trillion dollar worth of financial asset and derive billion of virtually riskless profits from thin air. I highly recommend this book to anyone who deeply believes in market inefficiency. It sits in my small collection along with Liar's P, The Market Wiz,... and rightfully so.

This is a wonderful book. Not only is this book a detailed examination of the LTCM story, but as a bonus, it is a wonderful introduction to the instruments that were the tools of the LTCM economists. In a real sense, you cannot have an understanding of the seductiveness of the techniques or an inkling of how the trading/money machine worked and why it collapsed and why the collapse was so shocking to the quants without having the introduction. Insights into cleverness and inventiveness of the mechanisms are a real bonus -- after reading Dunbar you not only feel you have an understanding of the sorry saga, but also an useful badsic understanding of derivatives/swaps/arbitrage devices. Great stuff.