Welcome to the 25th anniversary edition of Alliance, a special 100-page magazine to mark our 100th issue.
Milestones bring about a sense of accomplishment, as we look back at what we’ve achieved. Over the last 25 years, Alliance has grown into a trusted voice at the heart of global philanthropy. The magazine has evolved alongside the philanthropy sector itself, exploring its most pertinent debates and setting out to both challenge and inform.
Milestones prompt us also to reflect before moving forward. Have we reached the destination we anticipated, or have we arrived at a place that looks wholly different? What have we learned along the way? Whose contributions should we acknowledge? And how should we set our intentions as we prepare ourselves for the next milestone?
Reflecting on these questions, I take quite seriously comments from our founding board that Alliance must go even further in the coming years to broaden its perspective. What I observe is a persistent ambition to reach out to a global philanthropic audience and to cover a range of themes that are more relevant to and representative of the sector throughout the globe. This includes following the growth of non-elite philanthropy and giving voice to new players and ideas.
Alliance has achieved all this thanks to the work of a talented core team and professional staff led by David Drewery and Charles Keidan. I would especially like to acknowledge the contributions of former Alliance chair, John Healy, whose shoes I’ve been honoured to fill, and Caroline Hartnell, its longest-serving editor.
Caroline, who devotes her time these days to climate activism in the UK, believes that Alliance can continue to provide a forum for the philanthropic community to reflect on its work and do it better. She tells me: “We are facing such extremes of inequality and the awful threat of climate change, it’s good that there is an established place where philanthropy can think about what it is doing.”
As Alliance embarks on its next quarter century, we must continue to ensure we are meeting the needs of the community we serve. At the same time, we must always question whether we are being consistent with our values and aspirations in our own operations, reach, governance and identity.
My hope is that Alliance remains an agile steward, sounding board and mirror to reflect the searching questions that philanthropy needs to and must ask of itself.
Liz McKeon
Chair of Alliance Publishing Trust.
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