The Fourth Olga Alexeeva Memorial Prize of £5,000 will be awarded to an individual who has demonstrated remarkable leadership, creativity and results in developing philanthropy for progressive social change in an emerging market country or countries. All finalists will be featured in a special supplement to be published with the September 2016 issue of Alliance Magazine. The winner will be announced, and invited to deliver a keynote speech, at the Global Summit on Community Philanthropy in Johannesburg on 1-2 December. All finalists will be invited to this conference.

For more information about the prize and nomination forms, go to http://www.alliancemagazine.org/olga-alexeeva-memorial-prize/

Should philanthropists and foundations fund artists directly to create the art they want to make? Should they fund theatres and galleries to make art more available to more people? Should they fund only work that explicitly promotes social change? Or should they fund the arts ‘in their own right’ – whatever that means? 

These are the questions that run through all the articles and interviews in the March issue of Alliance.

The Board of the Alliance Publishing Trust (APT), based in London, is looking for a dedicated and inspiring Editor ofAlliance magazine to succeed Founding Editor Caroline Hartnell when she retires next year. Alliance focuses on the roles, impact and potential of philanthropy and social investment worldwide for readers in foundations and with a special interest in philanthropy.

The successful candidate will also become the Executive Director of APT, and will be supported by the General Manager, a small staff team, an impressive Editorial Advisory Board, an experienced Board of Directors and an international network of contributors.

The Board are seeking a candidate who will:

What role can private philanthropy play in post-conflict and post-authoritarian transitions? Why do these unique moments in history require a different level of creativity, flexibility and willingness to take risk? What are the biggest challenges on the ground and how can these be effectively anticipated and mitigated?

On November 13, 2014 the Alliance magazine announced the launch of the Third Olga Alexeeva Memorial Prize. 

The prize was established in memory of Olga Alexeeva, founder of Philanthropy Bridge Foundation, by former PFB trustees in honour of her memory and beliefs. The prize is awarded annually.

The prize of £5,000 will be awarded to an individual who has demonstrated remarkable leadership, creativity and results in developing philanthropy for progressive social change in an emerging market country or countries. The prize will be for the individual winner to use at their discretion.

By Avila Kilmurray

Sithie Subanhaniya Tiruchelvam, the founder of the Neelan Tiruchelvam Trust (NTT), an indigenous philanthropic organization based in Sri Lanka, passed away in Colombo on 22 March at the age of 69 following a brief illness.  Writing a tribute to Sithie Tiruchelvam is not an easy task as Sithie was an intensely private person.  Yet her public achievements, particularly her numerous contributions to social justice causes in her role as the founder of NTT, have to be shared.

Courtesy of www.alliancemagazine.org

The September 2013 issue of Alliance Magazine focuses on philanthropy and power. In his article, ‘The power of money’ guest editor Stephen Pittam explores how philanthropy can best use the power brought by increased resources, as it enters its “second golden age”, to increase its impact on social justice and promoting a more equal society.

Contributions include Linda Guinee and Barry Knight on how to define power in philanthropy in their article ‘‘Whats power got do with it?’

In her article, ‘From grantee to grantmaker’, Ana Criquillion talks about the grantmaking processes of the Central American Women’s Fund (FCAM) that are grantee led and help level the playing field between donors and grantees.

By Stephen Pittam

Courtesy of www.alliancemagazine.org

Six months after I had started working for the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust (JRCT) a close friend said to me, ‘you have changed – you expect people to listen to you.’ It was a good reminder of the best piece of advice I received on getting the job. Eric Adams of the Barrow Cadbury Trust told me, ‘keep your feet on the ground and you will be alright.’

It is difficult to keep your feet on the ground when working in a foundation because you are inevitably placed in a position of power. When meeting grant applicants I was always conscious that for them the meeting could mean someone’s job was at stake. With money comes power. And, as the saying goes, power corrupts. As time went on, I grew more accustomed to living with that power but I also grew increasingly uncomfortable about some of the manifestations of the power relationships that philanthropy engenders. There are many sides to this topic. It is great to be able to explore some of them, both positive and negative, in this issue of Alliance.

By the following members of the Working Group on Philanthropy for Social Justice and Peace: Ana Criquillion, Barry Knight, Atallah Kuttab, Halima Mahomed, Stephen Pittam, Chandrika Sahai and Suzanne Siskel.

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On 8 July members of the Working Group on Social Justice and Peace held a webinar to talk about power and philanthropy. Something that isn’t much discussed, it seems. ‘The issue of power in philanthropy feels like the elephant in the room,’ said one participant. ‘How little we talk about power within philanthropy,’ said another. One particularly interesting issue that came up was the relationship between power and visibility: does greater visibility for foundations mean more power? Or does greater power come from a relative decline in the power of other institutions? What follows is not a fully-fledged article with a beginning,
a middle and an end but some extracts from a fascinating conversation among a group of people who know each other well and think about these issues a lot.

Click on the attachment to read the article.