Foreign Policy Blogs

Philanthropy

In Defense of Corporate Socialism

Here's a pro-Gates perspective in the Herald Sun, an Australian morning tabloid owned by News Corp.

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No Connection Between Being Good and Getting Rich

A study has shown that there is only a small correlation between corporate social responsibility practices and profitability. Particularly scandalous corporate behavior brings poor profits, though. The study authors interpret (and admit they are being cynical with this) that it pays to be good, but not too good. Put another way, profit should not be the […]

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No Thanks, Bill

Pranay Gupte isn't so impressed with Bill Gates's “creative capitalism. He rightly points out that Gates isn't being quite so creative as the press corps thinks. But I’m personally not convinced by the reductio ad absurdum that Gupte uses to imagine corporate CEOs tromping through the “mud of Madagasgar” with tins of foie gras strapped […]

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Muhammad Yunus Also Thinks Capitalism Should be Kind

Here's a nice video interview with Muhammad Yunus in which he discusses the changes he would make to capitalism. I tried to embed it, but something went wrong. But the link also gives a useful transcription.

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Kinder Capitalism

Bill Gates spoke at the Davos Conference yesterday and made a call for a kinder, more creative form of capitalism that will provide services and products that the poor need. He's absolutely right, the medicines and agricultural technologies needed by those in poor countries don't get the attention they deserve. There are profits to be […]

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Pepsi Hops on the Clean Water Bandwagon

PepsiCo has donated $6 million to the Earth Institute and will partner with H20 Africa, an NGO trying to increase access to clean water in rural Africa. The press release wasn't terribly specific, but I think that the $6 million donation will be supporting the Earth Institute in several sectors – water, climate, and agriculture […]

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The Candidates on Foreign Aid

The Foreign Policy Association already has a blog on the 2008 elections. But as we get them narrowed down, I’ll also be keeping track of what the candidates say about foreign aid. The One campaign asked all of the candidates to explain their plans to address global poverty. Many replied with video as well as […]

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Dealing with Donor Intent

The New York Times commented yesterday (registration required) on the problem that humanitarian NGOs such as the Red Cross are having with earmarked donations. When too many donors say that 100% of their money has to go to a specific cause, NGOs aren't able to react to sudden issues or less-publicized crises. They also have […]

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Google.org's Five-Ten Year Plan

Yesterday, Google.org announced the five core activies that they will pursue for the next five to ten years. All are intimately connected to technology. The dollar amounts announced today are small when compared with those the Gates Foundation throws around – only $25 million in new grants and $175 million over 3 years – but […]

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Emergency in Childhood Nutrition?

According to new research published in The Lancet, early childhood nutrition has even more impact on an individual's lifetime health, education, and earning potential than previously thought. The journal published a series of five reports on the topic. They are available for free download. I recommend the executive summary, which is only 12 pages long […]

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Philanthropy is Good for Your Children

The Guardian reports that many multibillionaires choose to give their money to charity for the sake of their children. They feel that to inherit such vast fortunes would ruin their children's lives in a Hilton-esque way. This feeling is behind William Barron Hilton's recent donations as well as Warren Buffet's. Buffet gave a great quote: […]

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Remittances

I’ve been meaning to post about remittances – the money that migrant workers send home – because they are specifically mentioned in the Great Decisions Show You don't hear that much about them, because they aren't usually used to fund giant initiatives, but they already account for more than Official Development Assistance. But when I […]

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American Philanthropy Seen by a Chinese Observer

Li Yuan writes an interesting column in the Wall Street Journal about the Chinese perspective on American business. Yesterday's column tried to answer the question, “What is US-style philanthropy, anyway?” She comes up with a mixed bag, and some of the reasons she finds for why Americans give their time and money for others are […]

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Everybody Loves Lists

The Financial Times has published a list (registration required) of the top private charitable donations of 2007. William Barron Hilton takes the top spot by giving $1.2 billion to his father's foundation. The top ten were: 1. William Barron Hilton – $1200m 2. Jon M. Sr. and Karen H. Huntsman – $750m 3. T. Denny […]

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Kiva.org – You too can be a microfinancier

This weekend the FT wrote a nice article (registration required, but free) about Kiva.org. Kiva is an exciting tool that allows regular people to make micro-loans (generally under $500) to entrpreneurs in developing countries. In minutes you can go online, find the entrepreneur you want to work with, and make your loan. Then you can […]

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