‘Oh, that’s not philanthropy… that’s just charity.’ Recently I’ve lost count of the number of times I have heard this phrase, or something very similar. At first I was puzzled, then worried. Now, after several local and international meetings where something akin to this has been voiced (and in a manner of disdain), I find…
Fondo Centroamericano de Mujeres (FCAM)/Central American Women’s Fund (CAWF), Managua, Nicaragua and San Francisco, USA Written by Andrew Milner FCAM and the swallows ‘I remember the case of Veronica. While she was working [as a sex worker], a client shot her in the stomach and ran off. We, her colleagues and fellow sex workers, took…
A large part of philanthropic resources are committed to helping people from low-income and other marginalized communities by helping to alleviate the immediate crises they find themselves in. But the problems often remain. The impact of philanthropy is often constrained by concerns around the symptoms of poverty and injustice, missing in the process the factors…
I sometimes feel you can learn the most about the world by talking to cab drivers. At least they seem to be the ones on my travels that cut to the core of issues. On my last trip a cab driver said to me, ‘I should not be driving a cab in New York City.’…
Its a Generational Thing? Africa’s young majority is rising. But young people face endemic joblessness, poverty and social exclusion. Is Africa’s youthfulness a demographic gift or curse? In the past, struggles for freedom seized the hearts and minds of the youth. What’s shaping the social consciousness of Africa’s educated young people today? Have the elders…
A large part of philanthropic resources are committed to helping people from low-income and other marginalized communities by helping to alleviate the immediate crises they find themselves in. But the problems often remain. The impact of philanthropy is often constrained by concerns around the symptoms of poverty and injustice, missing in the process the factors…
The Fondo de Mujeres del Sur (FMS) is a foundation that mobilizes financial and technical resources in order to promote women’s rights in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. As an indigenous activist fund they play a key role in building bridges between those that have money and those that have the power to implement changes. In…
Thoughts from the Arab Foundations Forum Meeting, Cairo, Sept 2012 In the wake of the Arab spring, the Arab Foundations Forum met in Cairo on September 16 and 17, 2012 to discuss how they could maximize philanthropic resources in times of change and austerity. It was clear from the start of the conversations that the…
The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund was set up four days after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales on 31 August 1997 to receive the money that was flowing in from the public during that time. At the end of December this year, after 15 years of operation, the Fund will close. Its…
Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust (JRCT), York, UK Written by Andrew Milner Mission At a recent meeting of the Board of the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust (JRCT), the Trustees wrestled with the wording of a mission statement: how to capture the essence of the organisation in a few words; how to include a sense of the…