Boston, MA.  May 11, 2010 – The Philanthropic Initiative, Inc. (TPI) has launched the Center for Global Philanthropy to catalyze the understanding, practice, and impact of philanthropy in addressing global challenges. Working with colleagues around the world, the center aims to increase philanthropy’s global impact through improved knowledge, broader engagement, and more strategic practice. Paula Doherty Johnson, a recognized expert in global philanthropy, a former research fellow at the Global Equity Initiative at Harvard University, and a longtime contributor to TPI’s global philanthropy work, has joined TPI’s staff to lead the center’s efforts.

“There is tremendous untapped potential in global philanthropy,” says Johnson. “Philanthropic capital is an increasingly significant and important force for economic growth and social change around the world.  But its potential will not be fully realized – nor its influence fully understood – until the need for empirical knowledge, expanded engagement, and high impact investment strategies are addressed. TPI’s Center for Global Philanthropy will work collaboratively to address these challenges through research, community-building, and advisory services.” The center builds on TPI’s two decades of philanthropy-building efforts in the U.S., as well as its global consulting to corporations, families and foundations.

In a major knowledge-building initiative, TPI is collaborating with WINGS (Worldwide Initiatives for Grantmaker Support) and its members in 25 countries to conduct a global study of institutional philanthropy. The report, to be released later this year, will include an analysis of global and regional philanthropic trends and profiles of organized philanthropy in individual countries.

The center is helping to build a vibrant community of global philanthropists through a variety of initiatives.  In the U.S., the center is providing staff leadership to the newly established New England International Donors group and is working with a consortium of U.S. community foundations to help them effectively respond to their constituents’ international interests. Outside of the U.S., TPI has recently led workshops for philanthropic leaders in China, Hong Kong, Chile, Russia, and Brazil.  In April, TPI’s CEO, Ellen Remmer, was invited to Ireland by the State Department to encourage broader philanthropic participation and help launch the Women’s Fund for Ireland alongside President McAleese. Remmer notes, “Shifts in wealth, policy, and culture are creating unprecedented opportunities for global philanthropy to be more creative, strategic and effective.”

TPI is currently providing expert philanthropic advice to multinational corporations in America and Europe and to families in the U.S., Europe, Asia and South America by designing and implementing strategies and programs that increase their philanthropic impact.

“It is the collaborative approach of TPI’s Center for Global Philanthropy that I find most promising,” said Johnson, “we look forward to working with colleagues and clients around the world we to inspire and promote a truly ‘global age of philanthropy.’”

For more information
http://www.tpi.org