Panacea or hype? As is so often the case, the truth about venture philanthropy is probably somewhere between the two. Much of the material in the venture philanthropy feature in this issue of Alliance comes from North America, because that is where the field has largely developed, but the aim is to look at what, if anything, the model has to offer to the rest of the world, especially developing countries. I have been greatly helped with this feature by Nicole Etchart and Lee Davis of NESsT, who have acted as guest editors, along with Christopher Harris of the Ford …

Many of those who practise or advocate venture philanthropy are coming down from the heady economic expansion days of the late 1980s and early 1990s. In discussions about venture philanthropy one hears increasingly a maturing sense of the complexities of identifying social need and working to support related social change. One also hears critics and researchers raising useful questions about scope and scale; about the range of definitions; about appropriateness of different practices; about unintended consequences; and about the social impact of venture philanthropy. A set of examples of institutions that have benefited from such assistance is emerging and deserves …