Childhood Hunger

Bill Shore’s Letters

Letter From a Cab Ride in Denver

May 2000

Dear Friend,

Last Monday I flew to Colorado to keynote the annual dinner of The Investment Fund For Foundations (TIFF). It was an opportunity to learn from two accomplished men, Michael Porter from Harvard and Ed Jackson from Denver.

TIFF invests the endowments of more than 350 foundations ranging from family foundations to community foundations. It was established 10 years ago by David Salem, a Harvard Business School grad, and initially funded by the MacArthur Foundation. It's as powerful a community wealth enterprise as you'll find, and a rare example of nonprofits creating access to capital markets. TIFF's board, staff and supporters include many former investment bankers. They are as strongly predisposed toward wealth-creation in the nonprofit sector where they now work, as they were in the for-profit sector.

It was a good night for CWV. The speech went fine, and they had bought and distributed 150 copies of The Cathedral Within. There were several potential CWV clients to follow up with from Denver, Pittsburgh (that new CWV hub!) and New York.

The agenda for TIFF's meeting the following day included such hot topics as "Pros and Cons of Using Inflation-Linked Bonds for Disaster-Hedging Purposes," "Increase in Money Manager Herd Instinct," and "Fund Volatility and Correlation to Markets."

Michael Porter was my fellow keynoter, scheduled the next day to discuss inner city economics and foundation management. He is a Harvard Business school professor who writes prolifically, travels extensively and according to my friend George Gendron, editor-in-chief at Inc. Magazine, charges about $30,000 per speech, plus transportation which sometimes is by helicopter. I had no idea what if anything TIFF was paying him, but since my compensation was apparently the dry lamb chop on the plate on the dinner plate in front of me, I tried not to think about it. I wasn't able to stay to hear Porter speak, but wish I could have. Instead I re-read his excellent Harvard Business Review article on Philanthropy's New Agenda: Creating Value.

The conference materials included a brochure for Porter's newest enterprise, The Center For Effective Philanthropy. He seems to have leveraged an entire business out of the article. The Center For Effective Philanthropy provides consulting to foundations on strategic planning, measuring outcomes, methods for capturing learnings, etc. Foundations are their only clients. On June 22-23 the Center will hold "an advanced seminar" for senior foundation executives and trustees. The presenters include Porter, Kramer, Christine Letts, as well as Colburn Wilbur, former president of the Packard Foundation, Louis Smith, current president of the Kauffman foundation and several others. Registration costs $1800 per person. Porter sees the market we see, and knows what to do with it.

While I didn't get to spend time with Porter, I did get almost a full hour, one-on-one, with Ed Jackson. Ed is a young looking fifty years old, black, sporting a plaid shirt and the gold wedding band he's worn for nearly 30 years which sparkles as the sun drops low behind the Rockies. We talk about his family on the way in from the airport, while listening to the Colorado Avalanches' NHL layoff game on the radio. He's got five kids: four daughters and a son. They've turned out pretty well: One teaches at Stanford. The son works at IBM. His two youngest girls are at Georgetown University, a freshman and a junior. His other daughter is married "and has given me two grandchildren."

Jackson's schedule is even worse than Porter's. He has been elected president of his union three times over the last six years. He not only drives the cab we're in, but represents Denver's 1110 taxi drivers, fewer than 200 of whom were born in the U.S. "I've had three 2-year terms, but when this one ends, that's enough. Our drivers come from all over and they need a lot of help. We've got Indians, Somalis, Ethiopians, even 40 Russians who got thrown out of New York and came here together. A lot of them still don't speak English, and as a result of cultural differences, they end up in trouble. I have to represent them, even when I don't agree with 'em."

Ed Jackson is not from Denver originally. "South Side of Chicago. But that didn't seem like a good place to leave my wife when I went into the service. So I moved the family to Denver. I had to move around a bit, 24 years in the Marine Corps, but at least they were able to stay in one place."

"Must have been hard," I offer.

"Sometimes," he readily concedes. "Like 18 months stationed in Germany. My wife would send new pictures every six weeks because at that age those kids changed a lot."

I ask him if he drives a lot of hours.

"Are you kidding?" he almost explodes, as he twists around to look me in the eye. "I've got $53,000 going out in the mail every year for college tuition. You bet I drive a lot of hours. 16 hours a day Monday through Friday, 12 hours on Saturday, and eight hours on Sunday. My wife doesn't find me to be good for a whole lot on Sundays. I've been known to sleep 12 hours straight on Sunday's."

"That's 100 hours a week!" I blurt, as if he needed me to add it up for him. "That'll mean something to those five kids some day."

"Well, you know, I think it already does," He says. "I think it already does."

Unlike Michael Porter, Ed Jackson doesn't give advanced seminars. He ought to. Over the years he's beat greater odds, and enjoyed a greater return, than any venture fund or tech stock. Is there anyone on the planet who wouldn't want the secrets to his success? My hour's taxi ride with Jackson ride cost $46.00. Given Michael Porter's rates, I'd say Ed is undercharging.

« Previous letter | Main | Next letter »