Power and money are inextricably connected. How can philanthropy best use the power that increased resources bring in what is being hailed as the second golden age of philanthropy – also a time of growing inequality? Can power be shared with grantees, beneficiaries and other stakeholders? These are some of the questions addressed in this Alliance special feature. The guest editor is Stephen Pittam, former secretary of the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust.

The special feature includes interviews with Theo Sowa of the African Women’s Development Fund and Luc Tayart de Borms of Belgium’s King Baudouin Foundation; Halima Mahomed and Bhekinkosi Moyo on power and philanthropy in Africa; Albert Ruesga on poverty and wealth in New Orleans; and Shami Chakrabarti’s ‘view from the other side’. Plus Sophie Pritchard’s analysis of different power-sharing models and a range of examples from Central America, Northern Ireland and elsewhere. Richard Murphy takes on the issue of tax: when so much wealth accumulation is associated with tax avoidance and tax havens, how can philanthropy tackle inequality and other issues, often created by these same structures?

The September issue of Alliance also includes Alex Jarman on government support for social investment in the UK; Christopher Worman on the overlooked virtues of Small Data; ICNL’s round-up of threats to civil society funding around the world; and Nicholas Borsinger on the wider lessons to be drawn from a damning report on wells in Sierra Leone. Plus letters, conference highlights and book reviews.