Entering a whole new world

A few days ago (8 February), I read an article in the New York Times by Susan Dominus about the Secret Society for Creative Philanthropy. Five years ago, Courtney Martin, a Brooklyn-based writer, was shocked to find herself in possession of a six-figure book advance. She wanted to give a chunk of it away, but was not sure how. So she chose nine thoughtful friends, gave them each $100, and told them they would be expected to account for what they had done with it at a gathering a month later. Click here to read ...

A mixed bag of motives

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A bad case of Obama mania?

How did it happen that this issue of Alliance has no less than three separate images of Barack Obama? Are we at Alliance suffering from a serious case of the Obama mania that Barry Gaberman cautions against in his column? Click here to read ...

A time for thinking

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Philanthropy put to the test

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Exploring our futures

You may notice that the special feature in this issue of Alliance is shorter than usual. Well, you may not notice – and you may wonder why I’m drawing your attention to a housekeeping issue like this. The reason is that we wanted it to be longer but simply couldn’t find the material to include. Click here to read ...

Exciting news from Alliance

A new website

After ten years of publishing Alliance we have a huge archive of articles and interviews on a wide variety of themes from a wonderful set of contributors from all over the world. Many are as relevant now as they were when we published them. Click here to read ...

Ripples or powerful tides?

One thing all philanthropy commentators seem to agree on is that giving by wealthy individuals is increasing - not just in the US and Europe but across the world, with countries like India and China showing particularly rapid growth. And it's likely to increase even more dramatically in the next decade or so.

In a world where cash-strapped governments are unwilling or unable to raise taxes, this influx of private money could make a big contribution to solving social problems the world over. But will it? Is there anything we can do to ensure that it is well used and really does contribute to the long-term solution of problems in a way that provides a decent life and justice for all the world's people? Click here to read ...

Philanthropy - whose vision?

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Measuring impact: who counts?

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