While philanthropy in India (and elsewhere) is focusing on efficiency such as due diligence paperwork, what tools are needed to make NGOs more effective and impactful? In this article on IDR, Nimesh Sumati of Caring Friends, India talks of the importance of trust, understanding the vision and context of the founders of grassroots organisations and…
The Ford Foundation office for southern Africa co-hosted a roundtable discussion with the Philanthropy for Social Justice and Peace (PSJP) on: “What alternative models of development and philanthropy do we need to build local agency and power?” The discussion was aimed at unpacking and debating some of the limitations that mainstream development aid and philanthropy…
I read Nora Murad’s provocative response to Philanthropy for Social Justice and Peace’s (PSJP’s) report on philanthropy in the Arab world during the month of Ramadan, a time when Muslims the world over make their most significant charitable contributions. Television ads in Egypt are crowded with emotional appeals to help rural children’s hospitals, food banks…
A foundation leader once approached me proposing that we invite Bill Gates to launch the Giving Pledge in Brazil. I told him that the Pledge implied the donation of the majority of a person’s or couple’s wealth, and that I thought that there would be few if any wealthy Brazilians that would be up for…
The article published on this blog yesterday highlighted the lack of grantmaking as a key challenge for the Brazilian philanthropy sector – and for the development of civil society in the country. One positive development in this regard is the emergence of the Philanthropy Network for Social Justice as a strategic actor in the grantmaking…
Brazilian philanthropy is maturing, expanding visibly and becoming more diversified – as indicated by two recent studies: a report on Philanthropy in Brazil, produced by Philanthropy for Social Justice and Peace (PSJP) and presented in Brazil in June 2018; and a book, Filantropia de Justiça Social sociedade civil e movimentos sociais no Brasil (Philanthropy of…
I come to PSJP’s working paper on Philanthropy in Russia two and a half years removed from direct engagement in the Russian philanthropic sector since the Mott Foundation halted grantmaking to organizations there. Reading the paper, published in January 2018, therefore helped me reacquaint myself with some of the actors, trends and challenges faced then,…
Philanthropy in Brazil has the potential to play a much larger role in expanding and consolidating democracy. The working paper on Philanthropy in Brazil, recently published by Philanthropy for Social Justice and Peace (PSJP) in association with Alliance, WINGS and Brazil’s Philanthropy Network for Social Justice, is an important tool for a comprehensive understanding of…
Thanks to Nora Murad for raising important issues in her blog responding to PSJP’s report on Philanthropy in the Arab Region. Local discourses are something I work hard to highlight, including asset-based (vs needs-based) development and horizontal philanthropy that tends to ‘shift the power’. What is needed is to encourage people out there who are…
A comprehensive and well-written report, Caroline Hartnell’s just-released Philanthropy in the Arab Region: A working paper gave me a feeling of déjà vu. The report featured the same deservedly respected experts that are featured in every report on Arab philanthropy, and they were saying things I’d heard for years at conferences, in articles, and, I…