Susan Wolf Ditkoff

Susan Wolf Ditkoff is a partner in the Boston office and co-Head of the Philanthropy Practice for The Bridgespan Group. Her work has focused on three primary areas: effective philanthropy, public education, and infrastructure issues such as leadership, capacity building, and governance.

Susan co-authored “When You’ve Made Enough to Make a Difference” (Harvard Business Review, 2011) and “Galvanizing Philanthropy” (Harvard Business Review, 2009), which explored how philanthropists can increase their impact by getting clear about defining success, getting real about what it takes to create change, and getting better over time. Most recently, she co-authored “Philanthropy in the New Age of Government Austerity.” She has also co-authored four related op-eds in the Chronicle of Philanthropy: “The Hard Truth: Philanthropists Need to Get Real to Make Lasting Change,” “For the Gates-Buffett Challenge to Work, It Takes More than Money,” “For Better Results, Philanthropists Need to Meddle Less and Collaborate More,” and “Private Donors Must Help Government Do More With Less,” as well as two case studies on high-impact philanthropy (Tiger Foundation) and education strategy (Expeditionary Learning Schools / Outward Bound: Staying True to Mission).

She has been cited as an expert by The New York Times and Reuters, and speaks frequently at the Council on Foundations and Grantmakers for Effective Organizations, Association of Small Foundations, and the National Center for Family Philanthropy, as well as for private groups of philanthropists. Her writings have been reprinted in national and international publications. In 2011, she initiated Bridgespan’s first philanthropy blog and Twitter campaign (#30DayDonorChallenge).