Curation with a Conscience: Risk, Impact and Decision Making in Philanthropy, hosted by I.G. Advisors and GlobalGiving aimed to challenge, question, and expand collective thinking about how we give and who we give to, and create opportunities to catalyse more philanthropy in the UK and around the globe.

Speakers included a mix of individual and institutional philanthropists, intermediaries and leading thinkers and doers in the social good space in the US, UK, Europe and beyond.

We’d like to thank the following contributors: 

Gabriela Cervera, I.G. Advisors
Alisha Miranda, I.G. Advisors
Gemma Graham, Restless Development
Jenny Oppenheimer, Lankelly Chase
Tatiana Cary, University of Edinburgh
Alison Carlman, GlobalGiving

Break free of the philanthropy echo-chamber to shine a light on invisible power

At I.G. we know that intermediaries like us, and the philanthropists we support, hold a lot of power. The Curation with a Conscience event was an opportune reminder of this, delving into conversations about the risks of neutrality and addressing harmful power dynamics in the philanthropic space.

Gabriela Cervera reports here…

Curation helps us make sense of the world, but not without its challenges

Curation has become ubiquitous in our lives, reaching its conceptual tentacles far outside the gallery walls: Our music choices are curated by Spotify, our TV viewing by Netflix, our cocktail lists are curated by specialist mixologists.

Alisha Miranda reports here…

How can power-shifting philanthropy learn from power-shifting programmes?

When a philanthropist takes a power-shifting approach to deciding who, when and how to donate then the impact of that gift is transformed.

Gemma Graham reports here…

What does a conscience in philanthropy look like?

Photo: @IG_Advisors

The dial has been turned up on philanthropy, which is facing increasingly insistent questions about its purpose, legitimacy, hypocrisy, power structures etc. Depending on who you are and where you sit, you might either say that the sector is reflecting and learning or that it is in crisis.

Jenny Oppenheimer reports here…

Power: can philanthropy go beyond the buzzword?

Edgar Villanueva contributed to Curation with a Conscience, a day-long event exploring power, risk, and the impossibility of neutrality. He again urged funders to place anti-racist practice into the centre of self-reflection.

Tatiana Cary reports here…

The problem with neutrality

Digital fundraising platforms like GlobalGiving.org were created as neutral playing fields for any legitimate organisation to tell their story and raise funds. One of GlobalGiving’s core values is, ‘Always Open’ it’s based on the belief that ‘good ideas can come from anyone, anywhere, at any time.’ We never set out to be a judge of the best ideas, but instead, we aimed to give everyone a chance to be heard on a global stage.

Alison Carlman reports here…

Photos provided by IG Advisors and GlobalGiving

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