Special features

‘We all have power, different types of power. When we don’t acknowledge that power, it’s easier for others to step all over us.’ As both grantmaker and fundraiser, the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) has …

‘We have a convening power and a brand name power, in the sense that we are accepted in Belgium as a foundation that is working for the public interest.’ Belgium’s King Baudouin Foundation (KBF) is …

‘The dilemma of the poor is not about resources. It is about power. If the poor have power, they will leverage the resources needed.’ Adam Habib, Vice Chancellor, University of Witwatersrand Adam Habib’s remark, made …

‘Let not thy will roar, when thy power can but whisper.’ Dr Thomas Fuller Wealthy donors are typically the lifeblood of a community foundation. These individuals and families draw their power from many of the …

How powerful are foundations relative to other actors in society? With few exceptions, foundations and NGOs pale in size, programme scope and budgets beside governments, international development agencies and multinational corporations. Yet, too often, grantmakers …

Ours is a country recovering from crises in trust. Sometimes the events of recent years have seemed more grand opera than reality. First, the executive took us to war on a false prospectus. Then too …

In recent years, there has been an explosion of new forms of community philanthropy organizations around the world, with community foundations, women’s funds, environmental funds and other types of indigenous grassroots grantmakers emerging across Africa, …

‘This is how the verb “to participate” is conjugated – I participate, you participate, they decide.’[1] This comment relates to international development aid but could be echoed by grant recipients of many philanthropic programmes. Who …

These days, it is fashionable for foundations to talk of grantees as partners. How real is that? Most of us would agree that in funder/grantee relationships, the grantmaker usually holds the power. Not all of …

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 …