December 2006

The shadow side of philanthropy

Volume 11 , Number 4

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December 2006

The shadow side of philanthropy

Volume 11 , Number 4

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‘The moon has a shadow side but since we always see only the bright side we could only guess what the other side was like and we had to go on a journey to outer space to really see it. As for philanthropy, we do see its shadow side almost as often as the bright one, but we don’t often talk about it.’ So writes guest editor Nilda Bullain. The December 2006 edition of Alliance focuses on this neglected ‘shadow side’ of philanthropy.

‘The purpose of exploring the shadow of philanthropy is to help us do better philanthropy,’ writes guest editor Michael Lerner. Gender, caste and racism are some of the issues examined in this issue of Alliance, along with the waste of resources and the failure to redistribute. How do you survive spiritually as a funder? How do you keep fresh ideas flowing in foundations? How do you overcome the corrosive effects of power on relations with grantees? These are some of the questions we attempt to answer. Also in this special feature is a plea for intuition and trust in face of the current mania for metrics and a discussion of some issues raised by donor site visits.

Also in this issue of Alliance: Sylvia Borren of Oxfam Novib argues that if funders want to be intelligent, they must also be more humble, while Carolyn Reynolds Mandell examines the prospects for World Bank engagement with civil society under Paul Wolfowitz’s leadership.

Special feature

What have we learned?

1 December 2006
Nilda Bullain

The moon has a shadow side but since we always see only the bright side we could only guess what the other side was like and we had to go on a journey to outer space to really see it. As for philanthropy, we do see its shadow side almost as often as the bright one, but we don’t often talk about it. Alliance has been brave enough to explore and invite us on a …

Editorial

Alliance going it alone

This is the last issue of Alliance that will be published by Allavida. The March 2007 issue will be published by Alliance Publishing Trust (APT), which is a UK charitable company. APT’s first Trustees are Rien van Gendt, Gerry Salole and David Carrington. Allavida and Alliance Why have Allavida and Alliance decided to part company? After five years of growth within Allavida, Alliance is now ready for the next stage of its development – as an independent organization. Allavida and Alliance have always taken great care that Alliance should be fully independent editorially, and full independence is the logical next …

Letters

Governance, accountability and transparency – one task

Luc Tayart de Borms and Linda Zurkinden-Erismann

In his article in the September issue of Alliance, Bruce Sievers highlights a number of important questions that journalists did …

Can we blame them? Yes, we can

Jeff Erlich

Simon Collings (‘Can you blame them?’ in the September issue of Alliance) provides a useful reality check on the motives …

Advisers ducking key issue

Stephen Lloyd

I am writing in response to Andrew Milner’s article in the September issue of Alliance. His interviews with three firms …

How neutral are the advisers?

Buzz Schmidt

I read with interest Andrew Milner’s account of his conversations with foundation investment advisers in your September edition. Pressure from …

Breaking out of the self-reinforcing cycle

Mark Kramer

I was intrigued by your recent article on social investments. This is an area where my firm, FSG Social Impact …

Ashoka elects first Western European Fellows

Alliance magazine

This October, Ashoka elected a new class of 26 European social entrepreneurs as Fellows. Seventeen of them are from four …

 
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