Philanthropy - whose vision?
The Council on Foundations, the US association of grantmakers, has decided to roll all three of its annual conferences into one big Philanthropy Summit this year. This is to be much more international than the Council's usual meetings. As Council President Steve Gunderson points out in an interview for Alliance, with the growth of a global economy, 'there is a parallel growth of global philanthropy'. It therefore seems 'almost natural that any national conference on philanthropy would seek to broaden its substantive content and its international participation' - to quote Barry Gaberman, who is guest editor for this issue of Alliance as well as Co-Chair of the Philanthropy Summit. Although the vast majority of those attending the Summit will undoubtedly be American, a real effort has been made to bring international perspectives to as many of the sessions as possible.
If the 'Summit' can be seen as an attempt to start a global 'conversation', the special feature in this issue of Alliance can be seen as an attempt to bring together a wide range of philanthropy and civil society leaders from around the world to start that conversation ahead of the Summit.
The special feature kicks off with an interview with Steve Gunderson in which he explains what led to the Summit and what he hopes it will achieve. Alongside the interview are comments from a variety of foundation leaders who are planning to attend. We also invited the leaders of sister philanthropy associations from Europe, Canada, Brazil, East Africa, India and the Arab region to comment on Gunderson's interview.
Reflecting the Summit's commitment to 'infuse the meeting with the perspectives of emerging leaders in the field' (Barry Gaberman), Alliance asked a group of 'emerging leaders' from around the world what they see as the key issues facing philanthropy in their own region. We asked a panel of civil society leaders to consider the role they would like to see philanthropy playing in society.
These contributions reflect the expected diversity of views. While Jean Claude Rodriguez-Ferrera (Spain) sees 'the social sector as the main actor for social development, and the private initiative as the motor for this development', Erna Witoelar (Indonesia) insists that 'it's the government's responsibility to improve the welfare of all of society'. Even from within the US itself, Joel Fleishman and William Schambra offer very different views on the role of philanthropy in society.
We very much appreciate the support of the King Baudouin Foundation in making it possible for us to make copies of this issue of Alliance available to all delegates to the Council on Foundations' Philanthropy Summit in Washington DC in May.
