Author Archive:
Barry Knight
Change Philanthropy: Candid stories of foundations maximizing results through social justice
Writing papers to change policies doesn’t work unless change is already happening − this is just one of scores of anecdotes from a book describing the real-life experiences of ten American foundations pursuing social justice. …
Philanthropy for Social Justice and Peace
Event Ford Foundation Working Group on Philanthropy for Social Justice and Peace Date 23-27 February Venue Cairo, Egypt Organizer Ford Foundation Should we develop a new philanthropic movement to address social justice and peace? This …
They go round and round
Who sets the agenda – funder or grantee? This question is as old as funding. Recently, however, the form of the discussion has changed. The impetus for the latest round of discussion is the emergence …
Killing civil society with kindness?
Since 1997, the Government in the UK has embarked on a remarkable experiment with the voluntary non-profit sector. Ministerial speeches have extolled the virtues of voluntary action. There has been more public money made available …
What is a social justice foundation to do?
The first in a series of articles on social justice philanthropy was published in Alliance Online in December 2005. In this first article, Colin Greer and Barry Knight attempted to answer some basic questions about …
Civil Society – Michael Edwards
Since Mike Edwards is one of the few writers who can bridge the divide between theoretical, empirical and practical concerns, he is always worth reading. His 1999 book Future Positive was a tour de force. …
What’s the use of social justice?
Social justice has always functioned as an umbrella for a range of progressive ideas from Aristotle to Marx to Rawls. It has also acted as a magnet for groups seeking radical change in society – …
Alternative Conceptions of Civil Society by Simone Chambers and Will Kymlicka
This book is one of a series investigating how various secular and religious traditions deal with ethical pluralism. Organized by the Ethikon Institute, it contains 11 academic essays on topics such as feminism, critical theory, …
In Search of Civil Society by Nicholas Deakin
‘It’s a travelogue’, he said, when I interviewed Nicholas Deakin shortly before this book came out. He explained that, following his chairing of the 1996 Report of the Commission on the Future of the Voluntary …
Next: The road to the good society by Amitai Etzioni
‘No wind will do for a ship that has no designated port.’ This quotation from Montesquieu opens this short book on how to create a good society. Unfortunately, as Etzioni points out, societies are like …
