Reports from Alliance magazine

The Philanthropy UK Newsletter is grateful to Alliance magazine for its permission to reproduce the following summaries of its event reports. The full reports can be accessed at www.alliancemagazine.org.

Association of Charitable Foundations conference

By Caroline Hartnell

20 September 2007, London
Theme: Sharing our knowledge

The importance of civil society’s campaigning role, engaging with new philanthropists, mission-related investing and climate change were among the topics discussed at this year’s conference of the UK-based Association of Charitable Foundations, which took place in London in September, drawing some 270 participants.

In the opening plenary on the state of civil society in the UK, all three panellists [Campbell Robb, director general of the Office of the Third Sector; Stuart Etherington, chief executive of NCVO; and Debra Allcock-Tyler, chief executive of the Directory of Social Change] saw a key role for foundations in creating space for civil society and funding alternative voices. People automatically look to the state for solutions, while civil society is increasingly dependent on government contracts. The “extraordinary importance” of young people engaging in civil society was stressed.

In the second plenary, Matthew Bishop (The Economist) admitted that not that much is really new about the so-called new philanthropists. But one of the few new things is the scale of their ambitions: they're used to achieving things on a global scale in their businesses, and that is being carried over into their philanthropy. However, they have little to do with more traditional foundations, said Bishop, who warned of the danger of a parallel sector emerging. Ways to get the two camps to communicate need to be found.

In a session on climate change, three generalist grant-makers talked about why they are starting to consider climate change in their grant-making. Joseph Rowntree Charitable Foundation and Comic Relief, realising how much climate change is going to affect the poor of the world, are seeing it as a social justice, not just an environmental, issue. City Bridge Trust, meanwhile, has already started to do specific climate change grant-making, offering eco-audits to London civil society organisations. 

•  www.acf.org.uk

Caroline Hartnell is Editor of Alliance magazine.

European Venture Philanthropy Association annual conference

By Paola Grenier

25 October 2007, Madrid, Spain

The European Venture Philanthropy Association (EVPA) held its third annual conference in Madrid on 25 October. It was attended by almost 300 people from 30 countries, including the US, Latin America, China and South Africa as well as Western and Eastern Europe. Some were old hands at venture philanthropy, but many were newcomers to what is clearly a growing field: EVPA membership has grown rapidly over the past three years, and now stands at 75 members from 17 countries.

There were three important themes running through the conference. First, the ongoing debate about the distinctions between ‘venture’ and ‘traditional’ philanthropy. This is important in contributing to more critical thinking about philanthropy as well as challenging venture philanthropists to demonstrate the value of what they do. In practice co-operation and cross-fertilization between established foundations and venture philanthropists has always been an important aspect of EVPA's role, and was evident at the conference. 
 
The second theme was the complexity of managing a diversity of relationships across different sectors and fields. Venture philanthropy organisations have positioned themselves as a hub between individual and institutional donors, professional experts and advisers, policy entrepreneurs and decision-makers, and a wide range of social causes and different types of non-profit organisation. The culture and language of all these arenas is different. This challenges the honesty and openness of all the people involved to talk frankly, to admit to misunderstandings, and to find ways of working together constructively.

Lastly, European venture philanthropists are starting to accumulate experience and knowledge, and they are willing to share lessons and learn from one another. To date most of the models have been American. Even though the dialogue between the US and Europe continues to be important, for the first time European experiences can be put to the top of the agenda. The willingness of venture philanthropists to talk openly at the conference about their failures and their disappointments as well as their successes and hopes was refreshing and encouraging.

•  www.evpa.eu.com

Paola Grenier writes in her capacity at the Centre for Civil Society at the London School of Economics.