By Lauren Bradford Recently, Philanthropy for Social Justice and Peace, in association with Alliance magazine, Worldwide Initiatives for Grantmaker Support (WINGS), and the Centre for Social Impact and Philanthropy at Ashoka University, released a highly anticipated thought piece on the emerging philanthropic sector in India, one of the largest and most rapidly changing countries in…
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,…
According to a recent research paper by economist Lucas Chancel, ‘income inequality in India is at its highest level since 1922’.[1] Earlier this year in January, an Oxfam report said that India’s richest 1 per cent hold 58 per cent of the country’s total wealth — higher than the global figure of about 50 per…
Joseph Stiglitz, the 2001 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics, has written for a long time about the failure of neoliberal economics and the resultant human suffering caused by the policies of austerity and terrible inequality. Barry Knight, in his new book Rethinking Poverty: What makes a good society?, offers a possible way forward from…
In her book, Giving with a Thousand Hands, The Changing Face of Indian Philanthropy, published earlier this year by Oxford University Press, Pushpa Sundar makes an important distinction between charity and philanthropy. She argues that while charity is alive and well in India, the country is short on philanthropy defined as altruistic giving on a large…
By Debra Ladner SDG 16 recognizes that peace, justice, and accountable institutions are critical to sustainable, transformative, and inclusive development. It sets out ambitious targets on a range of issues from reducing violence and corruption, to combatting trafficking and organized crime, to ensuring legal identity for all. In doing so, SDG 16 provides a long-awaited…
By Barry Knight In 2012, I conducted research for the European Foundation Centre into foundations and their attitude to risk. The main finding was that foundations are confused about risk. They commonly hold two opposing ideas in their minds. On the one hand 94% of our respondents agreed with the statement that ‘foundations have a…
By Caroline Hartnell Daan Utsav started in 2009 as Joy of Giving Week. Since then it has gone from strength to strength, with millions getting involved, largely in volunteering and informal giving. Could this develop into more formal, organized giving, Caroline Hartnell asked Venkat Krishnan, founder and former CEO of GiveIndia and one of the…
By Avila Kilmurray A recent study of community activism in Northern Ireland highlights resilience as a key outcome of the contribution of community action during times of both violence and tentative peacebuilding. In situations of protracted conflict, where abnormality becomes the norm, community-based organisation can create the necessary space for activists to articulate concerns and…
By Chandrika Sahai At the WINGS Forum in Mexico in February 2017, a session was organised to discuss the initial findings of a new study of philanthropy initiated by the Working Group on Philanthropy for Social Justice and Peace. The purpose of the study is to understand the role of philanthropy in today’s world. We…