“It’s gonna be a big number,” predicted hedge fund boss Bill Ackman on Thursday December 20th, as he launched one of the more innovative examples of philanthrocapitalism we have seen. He had spent the previous three hours making the case that Herbalife, a vitamin supplements company which a day earlier boasted a stock market value […]
We were cheered and intrigued to learn that the trustees of one of Britain’s oddest foundations are looking at changing its mission. The National Fund was created in the 1920s with a donation of £500,000 by an anonymous donor with the purpose of paying off Britain’s national debt. For more than 80 years it has […]
“Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall, All the King’s horses and all the King’s men, Couldn’t put Humpty together again.” This children’s rhyme should be going through the minds of the 2,000 aid bureaucrats who are going to descend on the South Korean city of Busan next week for […]
The G20 meeting in Cannes has enough on its plate figuring out a way to save the Eurozone, with or without Greece. So it is a credit to the meeting’s host, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, that he booked a slot on the agenda for a discussion of how to finance the fight against poverty based […]
Last year we made a set of predictions for 2010. Some were satisfyingly prescient – the surge in mega-giving we predicted for 2010 became a reality through the Buffett-Gates Giving Pledge (even if we were off the mark in betting on Steve Jobs rather than Larry Ellison to be the Gates business rival who would step up to major philanthropy). […]
This week in San Francisco some 1200 people have gathered for SoCap10, the third annual meeting of what has already become a sort of Woodstock for those interested in social capital markets. Judging by the many invites to SoCap-related parties that we have received (much appreciated) and California’s relaxed laws on marijuana use, it may […]