Asia Pacific Philanthropy Consortium - APPC Family Philanthropy Workshop focuses on succession

APPC’s 2nd Family Philanthropy Workshop, Giving as a Family: Engaging the Next Generation in Philanthropy, was held on 15-7 September in Melbourne, Australia.  It was attended by 13 successor generation members of seven philanthropic families from Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.

Hosted by The Myer Foundation, the workshop reaffirms APPC’s commitment to create venues for sharing and learning for family philanthropists in the region and to develop resources to aid the practice of family philanthropy. The topic arose from APPC’s first family philanthropy workshop in Singapore, where participants saw succession as one of the key issues for philanthropic families. Click here to read ...

WINGS - Promoting philanthropy in China

High-level Chinese government officials, leaders of Chinese NPOs, academia and the media, and representatives of global NPOs took part in the 2008 Global Philanthropy Forum in Beijing from 30 October to 2 November. As well as taking part in the Forum, the Executive Director of WINGS met with the key staff of the Red Cross Society of Jet Li One Foundation to explore possible collaboration with WINGS in promoting philanthropy in China. Click here to read ...

Australian philanthropists urged to meet challenge of financial crisis

Philanthropy must not hold back in times of crisis. This was the crucial message of Philanthropy Australia’s conference, Passion and Purpose, held in Sydney on 16-17 October. The world economic meltdown was a major focus for discussion both in and outside sessions. The opening plenary address by president of Philanthropy Australia, Bruce Bonyhady, challenged the philanthropic sector to find ways of directing creativity to meeting new immediate needs as well as maximizing long-term positive social change. Conference delegates, mainly drawn from trustees and professional staff of family and independent foundations, and individual philanthropists and professional staff, welcomed the call to use courage and wisdom in moving through uncertain economic times. Click here to read ...

The glut of philanthropy books a bad omen?

A sure sign of a bubble is when ‘everyone is doing it’ – and that certainly seems to apply to philanthropy books. In the past two years, we've had Giving by Bill Clinton, Inspired Philanthropy, Richistan, What Your Money Means, The New Elite, Beyond Success, Forces for Good, The Foundation, The Billionaire Who Wasn't, The Power of Unreasonable People, How to Change the World, Leaving Microsoft to Change the World, Creating a World Without Poverty, and just this autumn the very unfortunately named Philanthrocapitalism and Money Well Spent, with Be the Change still on its way. And that’s just the books – a number of society philanthropy magazines have launched (eg Contribute, Benefit and Generocity). Click here to read ...

Geneva Global CEO buys company from founders

In our last dispatch, we noticed the money Legatum has been splashing around in a creatively capitalistic way. Since then, another of Legatum’s forays into philanthropy has come to light. In September, Geneva Global announced that CEO Doug Balfour had bought the company from Legatum, the heretofore unacknowledged funder/founder of the for-profit philanthropy advisory firm. It seems that as part of the change of ownership, Geneva Global has cut back on staff by around 80 per cent. The firm now claims to be self-sustaining – which indicates how far away from self-sustaining it must have been while under Legatum's wing. Selling off an underperforming asset may be capitalistic but it's not particularly creative. Click here to read ...

CAF Southern Africa conference

Event CAF Southern Africa conference: Innovating for Sustainability – ‘Africans Investing in Africa’
Date 17-18 September
Venue Johannesburg, South Africa Click here to read ...

Back to the future

One of the best (and worst) parts of making educated guesses about the future is being called to answer for your predictions. In December 2007, I made five predictions for philanthropy in 2008. How did I do?

My predictions were as follows: Click here to read ...

Sifting through the debris

Foundation endowments falling, governments watching the public spending pennies, donors of all kinds probably tightening their belts – the global financial and economic crisis is certain to affect the social sector, and at first glance it seems likely that the effects will be mostly detrimental. But what will the impact of the ‘downturn’ or ‘meltdown’ look like in different parts of the world, and is the picture entirely gloomy? Some of Alliance’s editorial board offer their prognostications.

Lucy Bernholz  Blueprint Research & Design, USA Click here to read ...

Data on philanthropy in the Arab region needed

In September, the John D Gerhart Center for Philanthropy and Civic Engagement at the American University of Cairo and the Arab Foundations Forum (AFF) met to discuss issues related to quantitative data collection on philanthropy in the Arab region, including definitions and classifications and identifying the gaps in available data. Click here to read ...