Billions of drops in millions of buckets: Why philanthropy doesn’t advance social progress (2009)

Despite record levels of charitable giving, volunteerism, and non-profit innovation, it has become increasingly more difficult over the last thirty years for poor and low-income Americans to become economically and socially self-sufficient.
Philanthropy doesn't move the needle of social progress for millions of American families because there is a stubborn disconnection between funding and results. Effective nonprofits aren't rewarded with increased funding, and weak performers don't lose funding.

In Billions of Drops in Millions of Buckets, Steven Goldberg explores the debilitating financial constraints that prevent so many non-profit organisations from producing substantially greater social impact, and sheds new light on how the non-profit capital market should be structured to best allocate funds in support of high-performing organisations that deserve additional resources to achieve optimal scale.