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Bellagio Initiative

A better future for aid? A resolution for 2013

Muna Wehbe 2 January 2013

With the ringing in of each new year, a litany of resolutions quickly follows: to be healthier, more thoughtful, more efficient. In 2013, this is especially crucial in the development community, for this is the …


The world of philanthropy – present and future

David Cutler 25 October 2012

  This discussion, which took place on 15 and 16 October in the Netherlands, was supported by the Rockefeller Foundation as a continuation of its Bellagio Initiative to look at ‘the future role of philanthropy and development …


Why is everyone talking about risk? Read the new issue of Alliance to find out

Alliance magazine 1 June 2012

Everyone seems to be talking about risk: this is the focus of the June issue of Alliance, which has just been published. It was also a major theme emerging from the Bellagio Summit on the Future …

Trust, failure and risk: reflections from the Council on Foundations conference

1 Pesh Framjee 30 April 2012

Trust is important. Foundations must learn to trust the organizations they fund. Perhaps we need less measurement, fewer checks and balances, and more trust. These were some of the themes emerging from a session at …

A Q&A with Michael Edwards, author of Small Change: Why Business Won’t Save the World (Part 2)

Foundation Center 6 January 2012

In November, PND spoke with Michael Edwards, author of the 2010 book Small Change: Why Business Won’t Save the World, which offered a sharp critique of the philanthrocapitalist worldview. In part two of our interview, …

Bellagio Summit: if foundations are not there to take risks, what are they for?

1 Caroline Hartnell 29 November 2011

The title of the whole initiative of which the recently ended Bellagio Summit was part is The future of Philanthropy and Development in the Pursuit of Well-being. Going on the title alone, the two questions …

Bellagio Summit: word play or meaningful conversation?

Lu Bo 29 November 2011

I found a very interesting phenomenon during my participation in modules 3 and 4 of the Bellagio Summit – participants like to use different terms for a certain concept. So from time to time they …

Bellagio Initiative: when measurement becomes our new best friend

David Bonbright 24 November 2011

What do you get when you convene a conversation with 40 or so philanthropy and development professionals from 20 or so countries about the future of their fields, all over two days? The Rockefeller Foundation, …

A view from the lakeside

1 Nilda Bullain 23 November 2011

The Rockefeller Foundation people knew what they were doing when they invited us to Bellagio Center on Lake Como with its sunny evergreens and breathtaking panorama. The place is so serene that you have no …

Bellagio offers fresh thinking on collaboration and effectiveness

John Harvey 22 November 2011

The Bellagio Summit continued its third module on 18 and 19 November, this time under the title of ‘Future frameworks for development and philanthropic collaboration’. Speakers in the opening plenary offered a range of views …