Monthly Archives: July 2015

Philanthropy and Social Justice Conference

Many of us give time or money to good causes. Often we have a personal motivation for the giving, such as raising funds for our child’s school, or for a medical charity that supports a sick friend or relative. But many of us also give to those with whom we have no connection: the victims of a far-away natural disaster; or those in distant parts of the world suffering harsh poverty. Individuals of limited means and the staggeringly wealthy give freely to help others in need. Carnegie’s wealth funded many libraries and other educational establishments around the world; the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation helps those in developing countries suffering from disease and poverty. Continue reading

Philanthropy and Development

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Photo: Gates Foundation.

By Paul Spray

I come from a particular context. I have worked all my life in international development – for developing country governments, for international NGOs, for the British government Department for International Development, and (albeit only for 18 months) for a philanthropic foundation. I am currently a Board member of Christian Aid.

  1. What’s going on: Philanthropy and development

There has been a rapid increase in the money given by Foundations for international development. In 2011 philanthropic North-South flows from OECD countries were at least US$59 billion, and probably a lot more. That’s already half of governments’ official aid. Continue reading

 Retrieving the Heart of the Market?

Leader of the Conservative Party David Cameron delivers a speech at The Conservative Party Big Society conference in central London, Wednesday March 31, 2010. Photo By Andrew Parsons

Photo: Andrew Parsons.

By Emma Dowling

In September 2014, the G8 Social Investment Taskforce (established by the UK presidency of the G8) produced a report entitled The Invisible Heart of Markets, outlining a strategy for G8 member states to develop a social investment market, invoking the metaphor of the market’s ‘invisible hand’ invoked by the 18th century political economist Adam Smith (1776) in The Wealth of Nations. According to dominant readings of Adam Smith’s theory, it is through the pursuit of one’s self-interest that social activity is steered via a market in beneficial ways for the collective good. The quip in the G8 Social Investment Taskforce report then seems to want to suggest that the market not only has an invisible hand that steers it, it also has an invisible heart that beats for the good of society. Continue reading