Searching beyond the first six search pages

I had done hours of research on venture philanthropy -- I really had. I first googled it, read those articles, then searched for material on the websites of the Chronicle of Philanthropy, a leading industry philanthropy magazine, the Center for Effective Philanthropy, and the Foundation Center, the web pages of the philanthropy departments at the City University of New York and Indiana University, and the blog Tactical Philanthropy. To this I added the websites of known venture philanthropists: Venture Philanthropy Partners, Robin Hood, Blue Ridge Foundation, Social Venture Partners - International, and the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation. This research provided useful if often times divergent information. Some were too specific and others - especially media reports - too reductive. But it all still left me unsure about what venture philanthropy really is.

Then I searched the term "venture philanthropy" on Google once more, this time going past the sixth search page, like Professor Penenberg suggested. That's when I found a 2006 report by an associate professor from the University of Southern California's Center on Philanthropy and Public Policy. The 28-page analysis on "venture philanthropy" -- "The Construction and Evolution of Venture Philanthropy" -- touched on all the questions I had, namely what the hell is venture philanthropy:

"Offering a succinct and encompassing definition of venture philanthropy is difficult" because the "field is in some ways defined by its distinctiveness as a "new" approach to grantmaking, there is a range of different activities taking place under the venture philanthropy banner, and recently some organizations have decided to label their work under different, less controversial banners."

It would have helped if I read this weeks ago.

But that's not the point here. The lesson is that I should have searched further into Google the first time. And even though I eventually looked through 30 search pages and the only real find came on the eighth page, I should have kept searching.