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You can’t ‘retrofit’ scale
When Shell Foundation was established in 2000, we had ambitious objectives to catalyse scalable and sustainable solutions to key global development challenges. We set about doing this by pioneering an ‘enterprise-based approach’ and focusing on …
Investors’ Perspectives – Matching investments with mission
A ‘unified investment strategy’ aligns a fund’s grantmaking programmes and financial investments with its mission to increase its social impact. How does this work for a medium-sized, private funding organization with a mission that is …
Can we do better in Haiti?
If you look at some of the key figures for the Asian tsunami and the Haiti earthquake, orders of magnitude are surprisingly similar: around 300,000 dead or missing; 1.8 million and 1 million (respectively) displaced …
Advisers’ Perspectives – What is success for a philanthropy adviser?
In the business world, defining success is often the first step when developing a strategy or defining a new opportunity. In our field, trying to answer the question ‘what is success’ is key to how …
Investors’ Perspectives – Is more debt the answer?
The social capital market is revving up in the wake of the spectacular nosedive of the global capital market. In the US, a number of foundations are exploring philanthropic debt for the first time, providing …
The holy grail of ‘impact’
‘With money tight, top philanthropists insist on more bang for the buck’ reads a recent headline in Barron’s business magazine.[1] These days, to read Barron’s and many other business publications, one would think that at …
Advisers’ Perspectives – A nascent field but growing
For those of us in the field of philanthropic advice, it is exciting to see the growth in attention that the topic is receiving.[1] However, this area is still not widely recognized or well understood, …
Beyond hero worship – a Stranglers’ theme tune for Skoll
The Skoll Forum is the time of year when half the world – the world of social enterprise, that is – seems to descend on England and for a few days everyone marvels at the …
Investors’ perspectives – Connecting mission and investment policy
In March 2007, a Dutch TV programme revealed that the Dutch Cancer Foundation had some of its capital invested in cigarette companies and that quite a few pension funds were invested in companies manufacturing landmines …
Do people value what they receive for free?
If you’ve ever sat through to the end of a bad movie simply because you didn’t want to ‘waste’ the money you spent on the ticket, you’re not alone. Many people assume that paying for …