You're currently viewing:
Special features
Development management training – learning to depend on trade not aid
Professional training for development managers in the developing world could be characterized as sluggish, supply-driven, ‘projectized’ and subsidized. There are no widely, let alone universally, recognized qualifications available. What is worse, there is no potential …
E-philanthropy – click to give or click to know?
The Internet is generally agreed to be the world’s most powerful communication tool. Yet most NGOs see it as little more than a mechanism for reaching the widest possible audience and persuading them to give …
Why online communities may not always be ‘a good thing’
Is the Internet creating a vibrant civil space? Is it promoting democracy? Can the architecture of the Internet be changed so that it fosters diversity and a real exchange of views? These were the questions …
IT creates new power disparities in Mexican human rights network
Information technology (IT) has had a profound effect on the human rights movement in Mexico. For decades, daily human rights violations went largely undetected by the international community. Today, information about abuses is transmitted almost …
Learning from new business models
In the world of business, two companies stand out as representatives of the 20th and 21st centuries. Ford was one of the early innovators, creating the ideas behind mass manufacture and distribution. Cisco, the maker …
Development Gateway – world domination or worthy effort?
The World Bank’s Development Gateway is widely seen as an attempt to create a supersite that will be all things to all people in the development world. Is it really a sinister attempt by the …
Is endowment building a good non-profit development strategy in developing countries?
Creating an endowed community foundation in the city of Leon, in Guanajuato, Mexico, was a wedding of capital and philanthropy, arising from the marriage of a Canadian foundation executive to a women from Leon. First …
Investing for the future of African women
Launched in June 2000 to respond to the sustainability needs of the African women’s movement, African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) is an Africa-wide fundraising, grantmaking and communication initiative. In 2003, three years after its establishment, …
A ten-year time frame
In 1997, Ted Turner made front-page headlines around the world when he announced his US$1 billion donation to United Nations causes. He also caught the attention of the philanthropic community when he chose to channel …
Endowments and endowment building in South Asia
South Asia has a long history of organizational endowments – or corpus funds, as they are often termed in the region. Both Hindu and Muslim cultures of giving have strong notions of endowment. There is …