The Gift Economy versus the Strategic Grantmaking Economy

Neighbor helps neighbor. Barn raising, husking bees, passing the hat for someone in need, clothes collected for the poor, "link love" in web 2.0, gratitude, grace, the "bank" of favors given and received, the kindness done years ago that can be called upon in one's own hour of need. If that is the gift ecomomy, what of strategic grantmakers? They give, or grant, but without a web of reciprocity. They measure success as business people or accountants or investors do by the numbers. Are stratetic grantmakers who hold the frontline organizations "accountable," in or out of the gift economy? Are they net positives or net negatives within the economy of love, grace, and gratititude? I know grant-seekers who, in dealing with strategic grant-makers do what employees do when held accountable in a byzantine system of forms, dummy up the paperwork. That kind of dysfunction, where one person far from the front lines insists on the management role, and the other person, closer to the realities of the situation, pretends to be managed, is maybe why we need more of the true gift economy if we are to recover our humanity.