In a remote time and place – it might have been anywhere – there was a village. The villagers cultivated their fields, harvested their crops and suffered the usual pains and pleasures people do. Then one day, a giant came. ‘This village belongs to me now,’ said the giant. ‘You must pay tribute to me…
Earlier this month, the Foundation Center published a report detailing the latest available data on U.S. foundation funding for nonprofit and philanthropic infrastructure. The research spans twelve years and analyzes 21,148 infrastructure-related grants made by 881 funders to 511 organizations in 30 countries. What did we find and what do the findings mean for our collective efforts…
Most of us (by ‘us’ I loosely mean those who are steadily employed in the philanthropy sector) are not poor, but we write and talk about poverty. Many of us are middle-aged or beyond, but we write and talk about young people. We cudgel our brains to understand social movements and how to reach them,…
It is good to see that the Alliance Special Feature on ‘Philanthropy’s Developers’ pays homage to some of the pioneers of philanthropy infrastructure. To my mind, one of these – Barry Gaberman – merits special mention. When he was Senior Vice President at the Ford Foundation, he saw the importance of the unglamorous backroom role played by…
The Shine Campaign is a unique global collaboration founded by philanthropy, faith, and development leaders, working together with the finance community to supply clean energy for the 1 billion people without access. Shine is dedicated to ending energy poverty and achieving universal clean energy access for all to realize Sustainable Development Goal 7. Clean and reliable…
By Barry Knight ‘Come to the edge’ was the invitation, and 200 came. The premise of the Edge Funders Conference held in New Orleans from 17th to 20th April 2018 was that from the edge you can see all sorts of things that you can’t see from the centre. The discussion lived up to its…
On 8th March 2018, International Women’s Day, Tulika Srivastav announced the transmogrification of the South Asia Women’s Fund to Women’s Fund Asia, expanding the work of the fund to 18 countries in Asia. In a message to partners and friends, Tulika wrote: The journey to become Women’s Fund Asia consisted of many consultations, debates and…
In the latest installation of Philanthropy Thinker -Alliance’s new online column, independent writer and consultant, Halima Mahomed, assesses the relationship between philanthropy and tax justice, and why philanthropy needs to address the elephant in the room. ‘Tax is an unpopular topic for most; in philanthropy, even more so. It often sits in the shadowy corner of…
By Barry Knight Carnage on the streets of New York, London, and Paris has taught us that anyone can be affected by violent conflict. In an interconnected world, borders mean little and war spreads easily. Such attacks, where anyone can become a victim, have their roots in deeper social problems. Violent conflict brings death, lost homes,…
The Atlantic Fellows programme in Social and Economic Equity, housed within the LSE’s International Inequalities Institute (III) is recruiting a Global Network Officer. They are looking for a driven and inspiring individual with experience in building meaningful relationships across global networks, particularly at the intersection of social movements, civil society and academia. Ideally, s/he will…