Did the world change on 15 September 2008 when Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy? In Europe and North America, it certainly did. For the rest of the world, it can be taken as a symbolic date for a longer-term shifting of economic power. This Alliance special feature looks at how philanthropy is responding to the new order. The guest editor is Anthony Tomei, former director of the Nuffield Foundation.
Contributions to the special feature include Matthew Bishop’s predictions for philanthropy around the world; Richard Jenkins’ suggestion of a third option for foundation endowments between perpetuity and spend down; and an article considering how foundations can address inequality. There are perspectives from two Italian foundations, Oltre Venture and Fondazione Cariplo; Foundation Center president Bradford Smith talking about US foundations; Alison Bukhari’s account of how philanthropy is changing in India, now the world’s third largest economy; and interviews with Stephen Dawson of Jacana Partners and African businessman and philanthropist Tony Elumelu on mainstream investing, impact investing and philanthropy in Africa.
The June issue of Alliance also includes an interview with Council on Foundations president Vikki Spruill, with a comment from the EFC’s Gerry Salole; Kurt Peleman and Pieter Oostlander on venture philanthropy in Europe; Nick Deychakiwsky on the tensions between the humanistic and the technocratic; plus John Fullerton suggesting ‘A Gospel of Wealth for the 21st Century’.