In recent years, a very distinctive, important, and potentially transformative trend has been emerging in the philanthropic sphere. In a field that can be viewed as uncoordinated in its giving patterns and inconsistent in its funding streams, this movement has been towards a more effective, more efficient and more organized form of grantmaking, one marked by funder collaboration, and one that has the capacity to change the practice of philanthropy in a fundamental way and that may lead to novel strategies for new possibilities and accomplishments in the future.

In his book, Collaborative Philanthropies: What Groups of Foundations Can Do That Individual Donors Cannot, Elwood M. Hopkins examines this trend, which he noticed and began to research almost ten years ago. He analyzes the field, describes the context in which these funder collaboratives are appearing, and explores the promising advantages that cooperative arrangements can afford philanthropy. Hopkins is the Executive Director of Los Angeles Urban Funders, itself an association of 30 foundations among whose goals is the promotion grantmaker collaboration, and his experience in this arena thoroughly informs his book.

Hopkins opens with a chapter on the problems at hand, the barriers which encumber philanthropy from becoming a mature professional field in the manner of education, medicine or law, and he outlines the reforms necessary to make it one, including, significantly, what he calls a hallmark of professional fields: coordinated, cooperative work in setting and achieving agendas.

Following a section surveying 40 collaboratives, Hopkins's book is divided into chapters that appraise the various advantages of his collaborative philanthropic model. One such benefit is the increased efficiency inherent in coordinating grantmaking efforts. Hopkins illustrates through numerous examples that shared staffing, reduced grantmaking redundancy, and maintaining a pooled fund for continuous, steady support all result from working foundation relationships. In another chapter Hopkins focuses on the ways in which collaboratives can frame comprehensive solutions to societal problems by bringing together specialists from various disciplines to integrate otherwise disparate categories of knowledge.

In two particularly interesting chapters, Hopkins discusses how collaboratives can foster risk-taking donor action and then addresses the matter of cross-foundation governance, a challenging situation that arises when grantmakers collaborate.

After talking about the ways collaboratives can manage, enhance, and communicate knowledge through pooled information, shared research, and public campaigns, Hopkins considers how collaboratives can create new approaches when responding to societal issues and are in a unique position to serve underrepresented minorities and direct grants to insufficiently funded geographical regions. Hopkins brings his book to a close with a reflection on the possibility of a self-sustaining system of funders allying according to the needs of philanthropy and society to make synergistic action before disbanding and reorganizing again.

Earlier in the book, Hopkins tells us that as impressive as the trend of collaborative philanthropy has been, it is still a tentative one that needs to further evolve. The collaboratives in this country consist of several hundred foundations and several hundred million dollars in assets. The latest data, up to year-end 2003, reports that 6,398 foundations in this country account for $476 billion in assets and $30.3 billion in annual giving [Foundation Center, Foundation Yearbook, 2005]. But with the trend visible and many successes already evident, there is, as Hopkins notes, certainly cause to be optimistic for the future.

This is a valuable book for readers with any degree of interest in philanthropic collaboration or philanthropy in general. Written in an intelligent and readable style, the book abounds with practical real life examples that Hopkins utilizes to demonstrate his points and bolster his observations. This will be an eye-opening read for newcomers seeking to learn about the philanthropic sector, and its nuanced and careful considerations will surely be edifying to those more familiar with the pursuit of collaborative philanthropy.

For citations to additional materials on this topic refer to the Literature of the Nonprofit Sector Online, using the subject headings "Foundations-collaboration" or "Foundations-grantmaking-analysis."