Quote

There's a lot of complacency in philanthropy. People figure organizations are trying to do good, and that's enough, even if the results aren't there. But that's wasteful and inefficient. It crowds out better programs.

I think we have to look at the whole way campaigns are financed. The No. 1 problem is PAC and special-interest money.

I think funding risky projects is very important.

Transportation funding is a win-win for everyone involved.

I think there is a direct correlation between interest shown by a member of Congress on these projects and the progress that is made. I think it gives the Superfund effort some credibility, lets citizens know we are serious about these cleanups.

So many people wait around for funding, and if they're unsuccessful, they don't make the film; if you've got a good idea, that seems so pointless. There's always a way of doing it; you've just got to find it.

Obviously any group that has to have funding also needs to get attention to their issues.

In philanthropy, many of us give a little bit and each year we give more and more to see what actually works and not just throw money out there and see if it's going to work. If the government did the same thing, fabulous.

We have vastly increased the amount of funding that is available for conservation partnerships.

This fundraising is consuming us. It's impossible to overstate, I think, what it's doing to members and their ability to just focus on the job that they were elected to do. The collective concentration of the institution is being undermined every day by the need to fund-raise.