Tim Gill builds network of donors
11:28 AM
Tim Gill seems to be doing in political activism the same kind of thing he did over a decade ago in software development. He brings to the table a different "model" of how things should be done.
In software development and technology, the "first mover" is often thought to have a built-in advantage. The first developer to release a new product defines the market. Seattle-based Aldus was the first mover in a then unheard of product class that came to be called "desktop publishing." The PageMaker program from Aldus created a new must-have tool and began to change entire industries.
But PageMaker eventually lost its market-leading position to a newer startup, Quark, founded by Tim Gill in Denver. Quark's XPress stole the thunder from PageMaker.
It's impossible to summmarize that whole geekey market fight in many paragraphs, let alone a few sentences, but one way that Gill and Quark managed to take control of the publishing desktop was by looking at the issue from a different perspective, by creating a different model of the process of creating a page for publication.
Aldus founder Paul Brainerd had worked with mainframe-based newspaper production equipment. He brought that model of page creation to the desktop. Gill, on the other hand, appears to have observed how "creatives" built up a ads and posters on a lightboard using x-acto knives, waxed paper, lines made from rolls of colored tape, and sometimes press-on type. Gill's Quark XPress came much closer than PageMaker to being a model on the screen of that kind of creative process.
Brainerd's model was "desktop publishing." Gill's initial model was "desktop layout."
Designers and layout technicians responded by insisting on XPress as their tool of choice and eventually made it the market leader, making Gill very rich in the process. (Of course, Paul Brainerd didn't do so badly himself as any politician in Washington could tell you when they watch his money pore into causes and candidates.)
The market leaders in political giving are organizations like megachurches or the NRA on the right or, in queer politics, HRC or ERW in Washington. They are large organizations with boards expensive fundraising processes, and complex rules on how to spend the money raised.
The model Gill has created is a different kind of beast. It seems to be more like the informal email chains that can develop when a group of friends talk to each other about politics. Rather than building a big organization that must spend as much time begging for money as it does lobbying, Gill's group apprears -- for now at least -- to be a more informal group that does the research to kick-start one of those informal email chains. The Gill Action Fund didn't contribute any money to Washington campaigns, but it does appear to have done the research and generated the relatively informal email chain.
What's unique about Gill's emails, however, is that they go to people who have a lot of money.
Two of the six in what we've called the "Gill group" don't percolate to the surface in Google searches, but bios of the others show that they clearly belong:
Jon Stryker: A Michigan billionaire architect who inherited his vast wealth from the medical equipment company founded by his grandfather. Stryker's Arcus Foundation actively supports lesbian/gay civil rights issues. Its mission: "[C]ontributing to a pluralistic society that celebrates diversity and dignity, invests in youth and justice and promotes tolerance and compassion."
Henry van Ameringen: His father founded the International Flavors and Fragrances Company. van Ameringen is a major donor to New York LGBT and HIV organizations through his self-named foundation.
Esmond Harmsworth: The Boston literary agent Literary agent gave the notable sum of $25,000 to Fair Wisconsin, a group opposing a marriage-discrimination amendment on the 2006 ballot in that state. (The amendment passed.)
Weston Milliken: In its 2005 annual report [pdf], the Gill Foundation describes the West Hollywood business consultant as a philanthropist who has matured "from a reactive check writer to a collaborative and strategic giver."
In software development and technology, the "first mover" is often thought to have a built-in advantage. The first developer to release a new product defines the market. Seattle-based Aldus was the first mover in a then unheard of product class that came to be called "desktop publishing." The PageMaker program from Aldus created a new must-have tool and began to change entire industries.
But PageMaker eventually lost its market-leading position to a newer startup, Quark, founded by Tim Gill in Denver. Quark's XPress stole the thunder from PageMaker.
It's impossible to summmarize that whole geekey market fight in many paragraphs, let alone a few sentences, but one way that Gill and Quark managed to take control of the publishing desktop was by looking at the issue from a different perspective, by creating a different model of the process of creating a page for publication.
Aldus founder Paul Brainerd had worked with mainframe-based newspaper production equipment. He brought that model of page creation to the desktop. Gill, on the other hand, appears to have observed how "creatives" built up a ads and posters on a lightboard using x-acto knives, waxed paper, lines made from rolls of colored tape, and sometimes press-on type. Gill's Quark XPress came much closer than PageMaker to being a model on the screen of that kind of creative process.
Brainerd's model was "desktop publishing." Gill's initial model was "desktop layout."
Designers and layout technicians responded by insisting on XPress as their tool of choice and eventually made it the market leader, making Gill very rich in the process. (Of course, Paul Brainerd didn't do so badly himself as any politician in Washington could tell you when they watch his money pore into causes and candidates.)
The market leaders in political giving are organizations like megachurches or the NRA on the right or, in queer politics, HRC or ERW in Washington. They are large organizations with boards expensive fundraising processes, and complex rules on how to spend the money raised.
The model Gill has created is a different kind of beast. It seems to be more like the informal email chains that can develop when a group of friends talk to each other about politics. Rather than building a big organization that must spend as much time begging for money as it does lobbying, Gill's group apprears -- for now at least -- to be a more informal group that does the research to kick-start one of those informal email chains. The Gill Action Fund didn't contribute any money to Washington campaigns, but it does appear to have done the research and generated the relatively informal email chain.
What's unique about Gill's emails, however, is that they go to people who have a lot of money.
Two of the six in what we've called the "Gill group" don't percolate to the surface in Google searches, but bios of the others show that they clearly belong:
Jon Stryker: A Michigan billionaire architect who inherited his vast wealth from the medical equipment company founded by his grandfather. Stryker's Arcus Foundation actively supports lesbian/gay civil rights issues. Its mission: "[C]ontributing to a pluralistic society that celebrates diversity and dignity, invests in youth and justice and promotes tolerance and compassion."
Henry van Ameringen: His father founded the International Flavors and Fragrances Company. van Ameringen is a major donor to New York LGBT and HIV organizations through his self-named foundation.
Esmond Harmsworth: The Boston literary agent Literary agent gave the notable sum of $25,000 to Fair Wisconsin, a group opposing a marriage-discrimination amendment on the 2006 ballot in that state. (The amendment passed.)
Weston Milliken: In its 2005 annual report [pdf], the Gill Foundation describes the West Hollywood business consultant as a philanthropist who has matured "from a reactive check writer to a collaborative and strategic giver."
The California business consultant directs about 90 percent of his philanthropy to support lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth initiatives. "The idea is to teach people how to lead and be effective at what they are doing in life," he says.
Labels: philanthropy, politics, tim gill, Washington
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