Back in mid-February, amid the optimism of the immediate post-Mubarak era, I wrote a blog post exploring the future of philanthropy and the NGO sector in Egypt, noting that the field had been developing quite rapidly despite a restrictive operating environment. I speculated that if regulatory interference from the Ministry of Social Solidarity receded, the future […]
Two articles have been sitting on my desk for weeks now and I’ve spent a number of afternoons mulling over what to write about them. The first Doing God’s Work from the Wall Street Journal takes another look at the success of Islamic finance funds and ask how well they are fairing & whether they […]
Two months ago, the provincial government where I live asked some of its disability service providers to help pay the provincial deficit – by returning a portion of money from previously signed government contracts. It was a particularly callous move being two weeks before Christmas. In Canada, like other countries, many services that are labeled […]
What is the human instinct when tragedy strikes outside of your immediate circle? (I use the term ‘circle’ quite loosely and encourage self definition). For the past two weeks, I’ve been in keen observation mode. Watching Anderson Cooper on CNN, reading various and varied thoughts on Haiti in my Google Reader, and monitoring the various […]
Halfway through Dambisa Moyo’s Dead Aid, I find myself with many of the same thoughts that plagued me during my graduate studies – how could so many smart people get this so entirely wrong? Regardless of whether you agree with the intensity of Moyo’s criticism, you will find your head nodding along at some point. […]
Overview: Looking from both sides of the border, the state of the economy certainly stayed top of mind in the philanthropic sector. In the U.S., there was great energy as the administration opened the Office of Social Innovation and set aside $50 million for a fund in the same name. Yet, spirits were tempered as […]
I last asked, “Will the West let Asia rise?” I was playing off a comment from Hans Rosling’s TED presentation – and was applying a similar notion to philanthropy and social innovation. Writing for Alliance, Olga Alexeeva turned my thesis around in her article “The Gucci bag of New Philanthropy” to ask: What if philanthropic […]
Returning from two weeks in India – with my mind full of thoughts, I came across Hans Rosling’s video from Ted India. I adore how excited Rosling is about statistics (b/c I’m not), and think GapMinder is quite clever (b/c helps people like me to “get it”). Since my mind tends probe the non-Western experience, […]
As a side project to my day job, I’ve been exploring the world of Canadian public policy. Given the opportunity to participate in a very smart program for non-profits called the Max Bell Public Policy Institute – I’ve been opening my eyes ( & brain) to the world of social enterprise and public policy. In […]
The increasing professionalization of (Western) Philanthropy has left most of us, the average check writer, in the dust. Professionalization is not necessarily a bad thing, but it elicits a similar answer to questions of “why I am unable to do my husband’s treasury job” and “why I need a lawyer to help me buy a […]
When the FP Article, A $9 Trillion Question: Did the World Get Muhammad Yunus Wrong?, came across my Twitter feed this morning my first thought was, blasphemy! The praise and attention that Yunus and Soto have received over the past few years – collecting fans and converts of their teachings – make it hard to imagine […]
Much of what I’m reading these days – in blogs, in articles – seems to swirl around the idea of efficiency: measuring efficiency, metrics for efficiency, foundations granting to efficient non-profits…and on and on. I don’t actually set out to look for these articles, they are just there – alongside the many discussing how to […]
Watching NBC’s premiere of The Philanthropist left me with more questions than answers. Luckily, I’m not the only one with conflicted views on the effect the show will have on philanthropy. Last night, we were saturated with quite a portrayal of white man’s guilt – where the most honest moment comes when our hero, Teddy […]
Hudson Institute released the Index of Global Philanthropy and Remittances for 2009. The full report and executive summary are available. Once again, the Index shows that Remittances are a larger percentage of U.S. Economic Engagement in Developing Countries than Official Development Assistance and Private Philanthropy. Private capital flows are slightly higher. The Index confirms that […]
For as much as I want help philanthropy become an accessible, mainstream norm and value – I’m still wrestling with the idea of a billionaire playboy turned vigilante philanthropist as our superhero for doing so. NBC’s June premiere of The Philanthropist is making my head spin. From a foreign policy point of view, do we […]