‘Toward a New Social Contract’ is the theme of this year’s Global Philanthropy Forum, currently taking place in Washington, DC. But the real hand-to-hand fighting on the role that philanthropy plays in the rich’s responsibilities to society is being played out in Britain, where a government initiative to cut the tax subsidy to giving has […]
Tag: Charity Commission
The Worst Foundation in Britain?
The 2011 edition of ‘Family Foundation Giving Trends’ is out, produced by the Cass Business School with support from the Pears Foundation. Now in its fourth year, the report is invaluable as a source of data on giving by the 100 largest family foundations in the UK, which together account for 7% of all charitable […]
When is a Charity Not a Charity?
The recent decision by the English Charity Commission that two private schools are not doing enough to justify their charitable status has sparked a volley of criticism in the media, with accusations that the venerable Commission has succumbed to the politics of envy and even class war. The controversy is the product of the 2006 Charities Act, which tried to tighten […]
Britain’s Big New Philanthrocapitalist
British hedge-fund philanthropist Chris Cooper-Hohn and his wife Jamie have just announced another huge gift – of £495m ($812m) – to the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), as Matthew has reported in The Economist. This took the assets of the foundation, which they created in 2003 to receive and give away a slice of the […]