“There can be no turning back on data. We’ve got to accept that measurement is here to stay, and make it work”. So said Geoffrey Canada, the driving force of the Harlem Children’s Zone, on June 2nd at the annual conference of the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy. Mr Canada had discovered the importance of measurement […]
Our old sparring partner Michael Edwards has been banging the drum against philanthrocapitalism again. We actually agree on more than Michael admits – particularly that philanthrocapitalism needs transparency and accountability to succeed. And he is willing to give some grudging credit to Bill Gates for his recent pledge of $10 billion to develop vaccines against […]
Praise for Philanthrocapitalism as “extremely well written” from an unexpected source – our old sparring partners at Gates Keepers. True, they do also take us to task for being too soft on Bill Gates, but that’s not really a surprise. The really surprising thing about the review is that, having attacked the idea of philanthrocapitalism for several […]
Paul Brest, who heads the Hewlett Foundation and has just published a book about smart philanthropy, discusses the challenge to philanthrocapitalism from civil society in an article in the Huffington Post. Some of the loudest critics of philanthrocapitalism, such as Michael Edwards, come from the nonprofit sector and argue that there is a conflict or contradiction between […]
Congratulations to Wikipedia. The free online encylopedia has just exceeded the $6m target it set for its recent fundraising effort. A thank you letter from its inspirational founder, Jimmy Wales, noted that “This campaign has proven that Wikipedia matters to its users, and that our users strongly support our mission: to bring free knowledge to […]
Our most public critic, Michael Edwards, who published Just Another Emperor? The myths and realities of philanthrocapitalism in the spring, has posted an update of his thoughts on the openDemocracy website. Michael responds to his critics on three issues: 1) He admits that his attack was over-generalised but that: “The power of polemics derives in […]
Earlier this year, Mike Edwards of the Ford Foundation launched a pre-emptive strike against philanthrocapitalism. In “Just Another Emperor: The Myths and Realities of Philanthrocapitalism”, he challenged our excitement about the potential of a new generation of businesslike philanthropists, questioning whether they really have any special skills to offer and suggesting that they are bad […]