Interview - Geraldine Kunstadter

The Albert Kunstadter Family Foundation was set up in 1952. It made its first direct overseas grant in 1987. It now makes 16 grants a year, eight in the US and eight abroad. Geraldine Kunstadter, now 82, runs the foundation and visits all their projects each year. But she’s unhappy with the state of philanthropy these days – with the arrogance of foundations that regard themselves as the ‘experts’ on everything, with the way they make life difficult for NGOs rather than helping them do what they do, with the over-emphasis on measurement. Click here to read ...

Interview - Marion Rockefeller Weber

‘May the rivers of wealth be undammed and flow freely over the earth. May the gifts move through increased hands until all people experience the abundance of life.’ These words appear on the home page of www.flowfunding.org, initiated by Marion Rockefeller Weber. Grand-daughter of J D Rockefeller, Jr and daughter of Laurance S Rockefeller, Marion Weber was born into philanthropy but she has taken a unique path, as she explained to Chet Tchozewski.

Haiti: rush to donate contrasts with delays besetting relief effort

Responses to the Haiti earthquake on 12 January quickly gathered momentum with an outpouring of public and private generosity. President Obama made an initial commitment of $100 million in official US aid within two days of the disaster, and this was followed by an EU pledge of around €137 million for short-term needs and at least €200 million for the medium and longer term.

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Regranting a smart option? Etienne Eichenberger, Theresa Lloyd, Padraic Brick and Judith Symonds respond to Jacob Harold

A smart option, but an option

Interview - Nabil Qaddumi

Is philanthropy ignoring the real money?

High net worth individuals are responsible for 50 per cent of annual charitable giving in the US, but they do not have access to appropriate philanthropy advice. While foundations, which provide only 13 per cent of annual giving, are catered to by specialized consultants and small donors are aptly served by low-cost administrators, services for those who give the most are lacking. The ‘missing middle’ is the role of private client adviser, who can provide personalized advice in a relationship-based format rather than on a more traditional consultant model.

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Regranting: smart humility?

A seven year-old girl named Olivia took her life savings, $35, and donated it to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Was Olivia naive to increase the Gates Foundation’s endowment by 0.0000001 per cent? Or does her generous act offer us insight into a new philanthropic model? Click here to read ...

Million dollar individual giving ‘slowed down but not stopping’ in late 2008

According to the Million Dollar List compiled by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, there were 33 per cent fewer gifts of $1 million or over from individuals in the US in the last six months of 2008 than in the same period of 2007. For the year overall, however, the numbers for 2008 were 4 per cent higher than for 2007. ‘Stock market declines and the credit crisis have slowed giving of large gifts, but have not stopped it,’ suggests Patrick Rooney, interim executive director of the Center. ‘The numbers for the last half of 2008 show that wealthy donors appear to be thinking carefully about how much to give and when in this economy.’

Source
Philanthropy UK, 5 March 2009

Study finds snob value of charitable events a stimulus to giving

Appealing to donors’ sense of status may provide a stimulus to fundraising, according to new research conducted in Pittsburgh by the Tepper School of Business at the US’s Carnegie Mellon University. The study, The Joys of Giving and Receiving, analysed data for ten of Pittsburgh's largest cultural and environmental organizations, and found that exclusive or high-profile benefits, such as invitations to dinner parties and other special events where they can rub shoulders with other high-status individuals, are by far the strongest incentives for donors to support charities, above and beyond the pleasure of giving. Among other things, the study found that the numbers of donors who support several charities would decline significantly if high-value private benefits were eliminated.

Slim to give away to 7.9 billion pesos to healthcare and education

Mexican telecoms billionaire Carlos Slim Helu has announced plans to spend 7.9 billion pesos ($512 million) through his charities to improve health and education in Mexico this year. The contributions of the Carlos Slim Foundation and the Telmex Foundation will fund neonatal care, scholarships and sports programmes, among other projects, according to a statement from Slim’s Grupo Carso SAB in March. The programmes will benefit almost 400,000 families, the company said.

Source
Bloomberg.com, 10 March 2009