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Betting on the Poor

“This is pushing microfinance in the loansharking direction,” said Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel peace prize-winning founder of Grameen Bank, in response to today’s news that SKS, an Indian microfinance institution, has gone public. ”It’s not mission drift. It’s endangering the whole mission.” We respectfully disagree. The keenly anticipated initial public offering, which aimed to raise […]

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Slim Givings?

When Philanthrocapitalism was first published in September 2008, some of our critics thought that the economic meltdown would mean the end of superwealth and supergiving. We argued then that the wealth would certainly bounce back, since the rich would be able to weather the storm more easily than the rest of us, and that mega-giving […]

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The Year of Giving Dangerously

2009 showed that the philanthrocapitalism revolution is here to stay, as mega-giving by the likes of Bill Gates and the mass philanthrocapitalism of organisations like kiva.org and donorschoose surged ahead despite the economic downturn. So what does 2010 hold in store? Gazing into our crystal ball, we see philanthrocapitalism continuing to surge ahead as givers […]

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Shakira speaks out

Shakira is the rising star of celebrity philanthrocapitalism. The Colombian pop star, who started her foundation at the age of 18 to help child refugees created by the country’s internal conflict, is currently in El Salvador, urging the presidents of 22 Latin American countries to develop a comprehensive plan of action to boost early childhood […]