Some gift horses do get looked in the mouth

The San Francisco Chronicle has a story about those who deign to doubt the effectiveness of the Moore Foundation's giving for conservation.

The story only hints at one of the most challenging elements of environmental philanthropy - the displacement of the native people who tend to live on these lands. Stories abound of well-intentioned outsiders making philanthropic gifts to protect land - animal habitat in Africa for example - and forcing the displacement of peoples that have lived there for centuries.

A constructive discussion about what works and doesn't work is one of the many things institutional philanthropy needs to participate in and to encourage.