Sunday's (1/6/2008) New York Times article, Can Foundations Take the Long View Again did a nice job highlighting the pluses and minuses of Foundations providing operating versus project support.

Part of the debate around which type of support is better for the nonprofit does indeed focus on who is in "control" over philanthropic money.  The debate question: If foundations give carte blanche checks for unrestricted operating support doesn't this enable nonprofits to do as they will without full accountability for both the dollars spent and performance outcomes?

I trust that the take-away for most foundations is that responsible grantmaking probably looks like the Osmond song with the line "I'm a little bit country and a little bit rock-and-roll".  Nonprofits need both project and operational money to be fully accountable and mission focused.