March 2018 - Alliance magazine

Welcome to the March 2018 issue of Alliance magazine.

In the special feature, Alliance editor, Charles Keidan and guest editor, Mark Sidel of the University of Wisconsin-Madison shine a light on the philanthropic dimensions of diaspora with contributors on Africa, India, Pakistan, Kashmir, China and Ireland among others.

Though terms such as ‘diaspora’ and ‘philanthropy’ evoke a positive reaction, the issue also raises harder questions diaspora philanthropy.

Guest editor Mark Sidel and Indian contributor Rajesh Tandon call attention to the ways in which diaspora philanthropy can be used as a tool of nationalist forces, and emphasise the need for good data, careful attention and greater scrutiny.

No more so than in the Israel-Palestine context where we interview the man behind the landmark Palestine Museum which opened last year, diaspora philanthropist Omar Al Qattan.

In addition, we profile Jewish philanthropists lending a hand to Israel.

The issue also features an interview with the founder of the Guerrilla Foundation, Antonis Schwarz, who inherited a fortune following the sale of German pharmaceutical firm Schwarz Pharma in 2006. What do you do if you inherit a fortune but want to change the system which helped to create it in the first place? Schwarz explains.

We also feature new research by Rob John on giving circles in Asia, and their role in the Asian philanthropy landscape as well as analysis by Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors of recent trends to do ‘philanthropy at scale’.

Alliance is part of the non-profit philanthropy media and our aim is to help make philanthropy better by giving it the attention and scrutiny it deserves. Your donations enable Alliance to hold up a mirror to philanthropy worldwide, and help us to provoke debate, stimulate thinking and improve the field.

Please subscribe here to help us do more.

Charles Keidan
Editor, Alliance

Special feature

The complexities of diaspora giving

6 March 2018
Mark Sidel

In this issue of Alliance, authors from a number of nations and regions give a new take on the theme of diaspora philanthropy. They explore younger diaspora communities and the new technologies and values which imbue their giving; the political and economic bases of diaspora giving; government policies which encourage the diaspora to give back, and try to channel where they give; and other key themes. The growing diversity and complexity of diaspora giving shines …

Charles Keidan

Editorial

Shining a light on a new way of giving

In this issue, we look in-depth at the phenomenon of diaspora philanthropy. With increasing numbers on the move, new ties are being formed between peoples, nations and states across the world. While most attention has focused on remittances – the act of sending money from one place to another – we shine a light on the philanthropic dimensions of diasporas worldwide. The perspectives of contributors from Africa, India, Pakistan, Kashmir, Ireland and Palestine, to name a few of the places you can read about in this issue, reflect the truly global nature of diaspora giving. While both the terms ‘diaspora’ …