An afternoon session at the Council on Foundations conference on Sunday about international development and philanthropy’s role highlighted some disagreement about where foundations can add the greatest amount of value. This seems a fundamental question, definitional in nature, and frankly not one that the foundation audience really grabbed onto.

First an overview: the panelists in this session were Todd Moss, Vice President for programs at the Center for Global Development, Jennifer Barsky, partnership coordinator at the IFC, and Dr Gerry Salole, chief executive of the European Foundation Centre.