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Interviews


Democracy calling: Interview with Hans Schöpflin and Tim Göbel

Charles Keidan 3 September 2019

Two key influences on the philanthropy of Hans Schöpflin, co-founder of the Schöpflin Foundation, have been his experience of living in the US and, more importantly, the death of his son from a heroin overdose. …

The long haul for human rights: Interview with Adrian Arena

Julie Broome and Charles Keidan 3 September 2019

The human rights movement is facing difficult times. In these circumstances, human rights funders have a particularly important role to play in sustaining the fight. Adrian Arena of Oak Foundation is now a veteran in …

OSF comes to Berlin: Interview with Selmin Çalışkan

Charles Keidan 3 September 2019

Selmin Çalışkan is director of Institutional Relations at the recently opened Berlin office of Open Society Foundations (OSF). Charles Keidan talked to her at the Association of German Foundations’ conference in Mannheim about the difficulties …

Interview: Safeena Husain, founder of Educate Girls

Andrew Milner 27 August 2019

Safeena Husain knows exactly what she’s talking about. Herself the product of a troubled childhood and a curtailed education, she founded Educate Girls to tackle the problem of out-of-school children in India, one of three …

Sustainability is the driving force: Interview with Lavinia Jacobs

Charles Keidan and Abbie Jung 4 June 2019

One of Switzerland’s leading foundations, the Jacobs Foundation has forged a reputation for its research-based and system-wide approach to the problems it decides to take on. Its chairperson Lavinia Jacobs talks to Charles Keidan about …

Interview: Giuseppe Guzzetti

Andrew Milner 30 April 2019

After an illustrious career in both national and local politics in Italy – he has been both President of the Lombardy region and a member of the Italian parliament – and as President of Fondazione …

Interview: Vijay and Umayal Eswaran

5 Andrew Milner 23 April 2019

When Vijay Eswaran founded the QI Group of Companies in the 1990s with a number of partners, one of its premises was that some of its profits should fund social initiatives. Later, and with QI grown …

Interview: Stephen King, CEO of Luminate

Andrew Milner 26 March 2019

Last year, Luminate, once part of Omidyar Network, was launched as an independent undertaking with a mission to help create just and fair societies where citizens are able to participate fully and equally and to …

Interview: Rob Reich

Charles Keidan 5 March 2019

For Rob Reich, co-director of the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society, the first question to ask about philanthropy is not how well is it doing, but what is it for? In an influential …

Interview: Xu Yongguang, Narada Foundation

Andrew Milner 12 February 2019

Founded in May 2007 by Zhou Qingzhi and Xu Yongguang, at a time when most of the country’s existing foundations were operating foundations, Narada Foundation was the first grantmaking foundation in China dedicated to providing …