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The Spring of Generosity

“People say we are overstating the importance of technology in giving. I say, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.” British charity tech guru Steve Bridger was in bullish form this Thursday morning, September 29th, at the Gulbenkian Foundation in London’s trendy Hoxton Square, just around the corner from the British tech hub known as ‘silicon roundabout’. […]

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A Nation of Givers

“[T]he call to social action needs to speak to individuals’ motivations and account for the obstacles to giving; to fit with people’s lifestyles and interests.” That this is the big idea in the British Government’s new Green Paper on Giving that was launched in London on Wednesday, shows the influence of so-called behavioural economists like Richard Thaler […]

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Books of the Year, Part 3

2010 has been a good year for books touching on philanthrocapitalism. In no particular order, here is our final batch of favourites (not including our own “The Road From Ruin“). We will highlight our worst books of the year and remind you of some must-read classics in later posts. “Waiting for ‘Superman’,” by Karl Weber […]

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Big Society, Big Idea?

If government isn’t the answer to all society’s ills, how can citizens take control and find real solutions to problems as diverse as loneliness and youth crime? Well, the Big Society Network that launched in London on Thursday thinks it has the answer – half public awareness campaign, half social networking site, half thinktank, half old-fashioned mutual society, […]

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Philanthrocapitalism and the Heart Strings

“Let us suppose that the great empire of China, with all its myriads of inhabitants, was suddenly swallowed up by an earthquake, and let us consider how a man of humanity in Europe, who had no sort of connection with that part of the world, would be affected upon receiving intelligence of this dreadful calamity. […]

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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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The Simple Truth

“Keep it simple”: that was the advice of Scott Harrison, the founder of Charity: Water, when asked for his advice to a social entrepreneur with an idea for doing good. Harrison was on a panel with Lauren Bush, founder of FEEDprojects (and the niece/granddaughter of two American presidents), and Charles Best, of DonorsChoose, moderated by […]

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Ranking The Best Philanthrocapitalists

It was good to see Barron’s magazine’s cover feature about the world’s 25 best givers, which rightly observed that “the name of the game in philanthropy this year is to make your dollars go far – very far.” The article, prepared in partnership with the excellent Trevor and Maggie Nielson at Global Philanthropy Group, focuses […]

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Enter Our Competition!

Win a pre-publication copy of Philanthrocapitalism in paperback! The first copies of the paperback have arrived hot off the presses at our offices. The book looks great – with an attractive new cover (as featured on our redesigned website), a new subtitle (How Giving Can Save the World), and lots of new material, including a […]

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All A-Twitter

“This week Ashton Kutcher (aka @aplusk) broke the one million mark in Twitter followers and introduced Oprah (@oprah) to the phenomenon. He’s also using his fame and Twitterlebrity to raise awareness of malaria and ask fans to support Malaria No More in sending insecticide-treated mosquito nets to African countries where they are needed most.” So […]