The Big Bet: How an Unlikely Group of Visionaries Forged a New Path for Philanthropy
Feb 2027 · Sold by Simon and Schuster
Ebook
176
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infoThis book will become available on February 2, 2027. You will not be charged until it is released.
About this ebook
A paradigm-busting true story of how a bold bet on “multiplication philanthropy” transformed a struggling Phoenix charity into one of the largest St. Vincent de Paul councils in the world—and could revolutionize how America gives.
What if the rules governing how charities raise and spend money are not just wrong, but actively harmful to the people they’re meant to help?
The Big Bet tells the remarkable true story of how an unlikely alliance of visionaries dared to find out. When the Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust, one of Arizona’s largest foundations, heard the ideas of iconoclast thinker Dan Pallotta at a 2011 conference luncheon, it sparked a revolution. Pallotta’s argument was simple but explosive: Nonprofits, shackled by an irrational obsession with low overhead, are chronically underinvesting in their own capacity to do good.
Inspired, Piper Trust made an extraordinary wager on the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in Phoenix—a beloved but financially fragile organization serving the city’s poor and homeless. What followed was a high-stakes experiment in what Pallotta calls “multiplication philanthropy”: the idea that rational investment in growth can multiply a charity’s impact beyond anything piecemeal giving can achieve.
Within a few years, SVdP Phoenix became one of the largest St. Vincent de Paul councils in the world, feeding, clothing, housing, and healing tens of thousands who had nowhere else to turn.
The Big Bet is a gripping narrative of faith, risk, and transformation—and an urgent call for donors, foundations, and nonprofit leaders to rethink everything they thought they knew about how charity works.
What if the rules governing how charities raise and spend money are not just wrong, but actively harmful to the people they’re meant to help?
The Big Bet tells the remarkable true story of how an unlikely alliance of visionaries dared to find out. When the Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust, one of Arizona’s largest foundations, heard the ideas of iconoclast thinker Dan Pallotta at a 2011 conference luncheon, it sparked a revolution. Pallotta’s argument was simple but explosive: Nonprofits, shackled by an irrational obsession with low overhead, are chronically underinvesting in their own capacity to do good.
Inspired, Piper Trust made an extraordinary wager on the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in Phoenix—a beloved but financially fragile organization serving the city’s poor and homeless. What followed was a high-stakes experiment in what Pallotta calls “multiplication philanthropy”: the idea that rational investment in growth can multiply a charity’s impact beyond anything piecemeal giving can achieve.
Within a few years, SVdP Phoenix became one of the largest St. Vincent de Paul councils in the world, feeding, clothing, housing, and healing tens of thousands who had nowhere else to turn.
The Big Bet is a gripping narrative of faith, risk, and transformation—and an urgent call for donors, foundations, and nonprofit leaders to rethink everything they thought they knew about how charity works.
A paradigm-busting true story of how a bold bet on “multiplication philanthropy” transformed a struggling Phoenix charity into one of the largest St. Vincent de Paul councils in the world—and could revolutionize how America gives.
What if the rules governing how charities raise and spend money a...
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About the author
Jeremy Beer is the cofounder and executive chairman of AmPhil, one of the fastest growing and most respected providers of professional services in the nonprofit sector. His previous books include The Philanthropic Revolution: An Alternative History of American Charity and The Forgotten Foundations of Fundraising: Practical Advice and Contrarian Wisdom for Nonprofit Leaders. He hosts a podcast called Givers, Doers, and Thinkers, and his writing on philanthropy, fundraising, society, and culture has appeared in the Washington Post, First Things, National Review, the Utne Reader, and HistPhil, among other venues. Beer holds a doctorate in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. He lives in Phoenix, Arizona, with his wife, Kara.
Jeremy Beer is the cofounder and executive chairman of AmPhil, one of the fastest growing and most respected providers of professional services in the nonprofit sector. His previous books include The Philanthropic Revolution: An Alternative History of American Charity and The Forgotten Foundation...
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