As seen on The Rockefeller Foundation Website. December 3rd 2019 is the eighth GivingTuesday, the annual day of celebrating generosity of all sorts, from donating money to volunteering. In its first seven years, GivingTuesday has inspired millions of people to give more. In America, over $1 billion has been raised online on the day (and much more in the […]
The start of the New Year means that it is time, yet again, to gaze into our philanthrocrystal ball and make our annual predictions. We did OK last year but are hoping to do even better in 2013. Our top theme among our 20 predictions is that 2013 will be a breakthrough year for women […]
“Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall, All the King’s horses and all the King’s men, Couldn’t put Humpty together again.” This children’s rhyme should be going through the minds of the 2,000 aid bureaucrats who are going to descend on the South Korean city of Busan next week for […]
Should private donors back-fill for cuts in official aid to the developing world? Should private actors be integrated into aid co-0rdination mechanisms so far dominated by governmental agencies? Do governments need to change how they work to partner with philanthropists? These questions, prompted by the rise of philanthrocapitalism, are in the spotlight at the moment. […]
The late and unlamented terror chief may not be anyone’s idea of a philanthropist, least of all ours. Yet, however offensive it may seem, the horrible thought does raise some important questions, so please bear with us on this one… First of all, Osama bin-Laden had plenty of cash – inheriting a pile from his […]
Ten percent of all government aid should go to promoting social businesses, argued microfinance pioneer and Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus at yesterday’s panel on innovation at the Clinton Global Initiative meeting in New York. This echoed our call for new, innovative ways to deliver aid based on partnerships between government and the private sector. Professor Yunus’s model […]
Capitalism is something of a dirty word at the moment, so the launch on March 24th of a new initiative to attract finance for capital-starved entrepreneurs in the developing world is a timely reminder that jobs and economic growth are the most powerful levers in ending poverty. The Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) wants to create a […]
The only industry booming at the moment is recession economics, as policy-makers and opinion-formers pore over the Great Depression of nearly 80 years ago looking for answers to the current crisis. The hapless President Herbert Hoover, who responded to the Wall Street Crash with balanced-budget expenditure cutting, is usually cast as the villain of the […]
We think that the emergence of heavyweight philanthropy in the developing world is a major part of the philanthrocapitalism revolution. Two big recent announcements caught our eye. First, that the 2008 Mo Ibrahim Prize for African leadership has gone to Festus Gontebanye Mogae, the former president of Botswana, a country that has managed its natural resource wealth better […]