In 2016, Forbes magazine and The Bridgespan Group ranked Dana and Dave Dornsife’s $40 million grant to World Vision’s water, sanitation, and hygiene programs in Africa as one of the five most promising “big bets” in philanthropy for social change: worldvisionphilanthropy.org/forbes
The Dornsifes’ decades-long relationship with World Vision, which has included dozens of trips to the field, was singled out for praise. The strength of this partnership—one of six criteria used to qualify the most promising “big bets”—got the highest score possible from the independent ranking panel, who also gave the gift excellent marks on realism of strategy and clarity of desired results. Other categories included ambition; built-in learning and improvement; and the role of philanthropy in “moving the needle.”