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.

Woburn Place Collaborative Colloquium    

by Caroline Hartnell

6-8 December 2007, Long Ditton, UK

The character of foundation intervention, the nature of collaboration, and the raison d’être of the Woburn Place Collaborative (WPC) itself were the topics addressed by the 35 participants of the First Woburn Place Collaborative Annual Colloquium in early December. WPC is the UK forum for foundations that are committed to social justice philanthropy and to working and learning together.

Keynote speaker Jonathan Porritt, director of Forum for the Future, argued that climate change must affect everything foundations do if we are to move towards a low-carbon, equitable world. In the ensuing debate, it was stressed that foundations need to influence both policy-making and the grassroots and need therefore to work with business and government as well as civil society organisations (CSOs). They also have the potential, largely untapped, to influence the market through their investments.

Generally, the opportunities provided by collaboration were seen to include improved performance through working with partners with complementary ‘competencies’; leveraging more funding; and better meeting the needs of foundations’ constituencies. Dangers include mission drift and blurred accountability. Moreover, collaboration is time-consuming and foundations should go into it only if the benefits are clear.

Specifically, the Colloquium identified five priorities for collaboration within WPC:

• changing public opinion and thought leaders;
• getting a better understanding of the difference foundations can make;
• harnessing more of members’ capital and income capacity, including joint investment ventures;
• influencing systemic change over the longer term;
• developing joint grant schemes, joint advocacy and the dissemination of what works.

Of these, it was the joint investment fund that gave rise to the most discussion. Several people stressed the importance of how foundations use their assets, and it was generally agreed that this is an area for WPC to explore.

Caroline Hartnell is Editor of Alliance magazine.

European Forum on Philanthropy and Research Funding

by Anthony Tomei

4 December, Brussels 2007, Belgium

The European Forum on Philanthropy and Research Funding is the result of discussions between a group of research-focused foundations and the European Commission to establish a Europe-wide dialogue with universities and research institutes. Its inaugural conference, held in Brussels in December, was attended by 150 or so delegates, representing some 120 organisations: foundations, universities and research organisations, EU and national bodies, consultancy organisations, think tanks and third sector bodies.

In the opening session, the Conference Chairman, Wilhelm Krull of the Volkswagen Foundation, described the role that foundations can play in funding research and how their independence allows them to support distinctive and important initiatives. Professor Harriet Wallberg-Henriksson of the Karolinska Institute in Finland talked about how her university has set about fundraising and Pier MarioVello, Secretary General of the Cariplo Foundation, described the aims and ambitions of the Forum.

Parallel sessions then considered evaluating research outcomes and impact; the conclusions of the EC Expert Group on Fundraising by Universities from Philanthropic Sources; regulatory and fiscal issues; and ethics and public benefit in funding research. A final plenary session asked what foundations could contribute to the EC’s vision for the European Research Area and, more generally, what philanthropy can contribute to research in Europe.
 
So far, so good. The conference was well organised, the speakers were good, and there was a clear sense of purpose. However, relatively few foundations are committed to funding research, and of these the majority see it as a means to an end, not an end in itself. For the rest, many rule out funding research because they see it as too difficult, too expensive, or simply an irrelevant diversion of money and effort. If the Forum is to expand beyond the small group who are committed to funding research for its own sake, it will need to address not only the question posed in the final session, ‘How can foundations help research in Europe?’ but also the inverse question: ‘How can research help the missions of foundations?’

Anthony Tomei is Director of The Nuffield Foundation and a member of the Philanthropy UK Advisory Board.