The Economist kindly threw us a book launch party in New York last night. We were honoured to be joined by so many people who are part of the philanthrocapitalism revolution. Guest of honour was President Bill Clinton (hear Matthew’s interview with him for the Economist about the impact of the economic downturn on philanthropy). Other guests showed how the philanthrocapitalism movement is going global – Jamie Cooper-Hohn and John Studzinski from the UK, and Rohini Nilekani from India came in person, as well as representatives from the foundation of Ukrainian billionaire Viktor Pinchuk.
Audio: Bill Clinton at Clinton Global Initative
It was a particular pleasure that we were joined by one of the world’s leading business writers – Jim Collins of “Good to Great” fame – and one of the world’s great philosophers, Peter Singer. His seminal article for the New York Times Magazine in 2006 exploring the moral arguments for philanthropy is a lucid and compelling argument for generosity (not just by the super-rich), which we explore in the book when we ask “what does it take to be a good billionaire?”
One piece of philanthropy news – Jamie Drummond, who runs Bono’s organisation to argue for debt relief for poor countries and more aid, told us that they are changing their name from DATA to One. It is no surprise that an organisation led by “celanthropists” – celebrity philanthropists – is rebranding itself to remain cool.