Author Archive:
Barry Knight
Strategic or emergent: why are we stuck in the swimming pool?
Gerry Salole, chief executive of the European Foundation Centre, once commented: ‘Philanthropy tends to get stuck in the swimming pool, when the real action is in the sea.’ The recent controversy about strategic philanthropy and …
Bringing grantmaking in from the cold
Increasingly, the practice of grantmaking as a tool for bringing about social change has fallen out of favour, replaced by newer, snappier-sounding forms of philanthropy. In laying out their wares, venture philanthropy, strategic philanthropy, philanthrocapitalism …
Good sibling, bad sibling: philanthropy and inequality
Increased concentration of wealth and increasing inequality are the conditions likely to give rise to philanthropy. This was true with Carnegie and Rockefeller in the US and it seems to be true in the BRICS …
Risky business: the survey
A session on ‘Risky Business’ at the European Foundation Centre (EFC) conference this month will explore the relationship between risk and creativity. In preparation for the session, Selim Iltus and Barry Knight surveyed EFC member …
Exciting times for philanthropy in Brazil
During the recent GIFE conference in Brazil (26-30 March), someone turned to me and said that the discussions at the conference reminded him of the United States during the 1960s: optimism, energy, openness to doing …
Exciting times for philanthropy in Brazil
During the recent GIFE conference in Brazil (26-30 March), someone turned to me and said that the discussions at the conference reminded him of the United States during the 1960s: optimism, energy, openness to doing things …
Bread, freedom and social justice
Philanthropy in the Arab world can never be the same again. No longer will it be possible to smooch up to authoritarian governments by performing charitable acts. Foundations will have to play their full part …
Bringing community philanthropy to the next stage
Over the past year, the Aga Khan Foundation (USA) and the C S Mott Foundation have consulted the field about how to develop community philanthropy. A new report, The Value of Community Philanthropy, suggests ways …
Reframing the collaboration debate
The word ‘collaboration’ is the latest buzzword for foundations. It is used in many situations, both formal and informal, where foundations try to achieve things together. So what do we mean by collaboration? When does …
Aga Khan Foundation embraces community philanthropy
While there is general agreement on the importance of civil society in development, there is now a healthy debate about how to create self-sustaining civil society organizations (CSOs). Can external models take root in foreign …
