An Accidental Philanthropist
How a Small Family Foundation Made a Big Difference
Filled with resonant disclosures and a few surprises, An Accidental Philanthropist is a moving memoir by a woman who effected great change.
Written with an eye toward women’s issues, Winsome Dunn McIntosh’s memoir is about her decades-long career in philanthropy.
McIntosh never expected to co-lead a philanthropic organization. Although she showed leadership potential from a young age, enrolling in the University of Florida’s business program in the 1960s despite being the only woman in her classes, she was raised middle class. Her start managing the McIntosh Foundation came upon the death of her mother-in-law, who willed a large portion of her wealth, built through the family’s A&P grocery business, to the foundation.
McIntosh and her husband took on the management of the foundation, growing it from an entity that existed only on paper into a multifaceted organization that advocated for environmental issues through donations, public defense law, and their own tour boat company, which operated awareness-building cruises in Alaska. McIntosh also recounts how she balanced family life with her professional aspirations, raising three sons, founding an additional philanthropic organization of her own, and chairing an emergent British environmental nonprofit.
The prose is conversational, and although McIntosh’s life circumstances are somewhat rarefied, her voice is down-to-earth. This relatable quality is reinforced by personal details that round her out, such as that she and her husband felt at odds with the lavish social obligations expected of them. At other times, the book focuses on navigating the pull between motherhood and McIntosh’s own ambitions, including whether or not to continue with an unplanned pregnancy. The book manages such issues with care, its disclosures resonant. McIntosh illustrates time and again the value of being open to risk and of charting one’s own path. The ins and outs of her time in various organizations are related in a way that feels comprehensive but never exhaustive. In addition, the ratio of the professional to personal is spot-on.
Indeed, McIntosh’s storytelling is deft. She does an expert job of withholding information until just the right moment. She traces the whole course of her love story with her husband, from when they met through the good and bad times of their marriage and up to Michael’s death, with clarity. Moving expressions of grief are shared as well. A surprise revelation generates appropriate shock near the book’s end.
An Accidental Philanthropist is an inspiring, relevant memoir about finding one’s way in philanthropic leadership.
Reviewed by
Carolyn Wilson-Scott
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
