Finding a niche or meeting the need?

Among the many excellent articles in the June Alliance special feature, I was particularly struck by Rory Tolentino’s statement that ‘responsible philanthropy tries to gather information, listens to voices close to the ground, and determines how to respond on the basis of the information gathered and the viewpoints heard’. I don’t know of any company that would have been successful without having done extensive market research, analysing needs and conditions on the ground and potential competitors before launching a new product.