Sharing ideas: the Nexus Europe Youth Summit and Module Three of The Philanthropy Workshop

On Saturday the 11^th May, we had the great pleasure of taking part in the Nexus Europe Youth Summit on Innovative Philanthropy and Social Entrepreneurship at The Clubhouse in Central London. In the words of the organisers, the Summit “brought together philanthropists, investors, social entrepreneurs and allies under the age of 40 from across Europe, to inspire new leadership, greater generosity and more strategic investing in social and environmental projects”.

The Institute organised a breakout session in the afternoon under the headline, “New Models in Philanthropy – If it ain’t broke why fix it?”; Mary Glanville, Managing Director of the Institute for Philanthropy in the UK, facilitated an animated discussion between two eminent philanthropists with different approaches to giving, Fran Perrin and Marcelle Speller. Fran is the Founder and Director of the Indigo Trust, a grant-making trust that funds technology-driven projects that bring about social change, largely in African countries; and Marcelle is the Founder and CEO of the online fundraising platform for small and local charities, Localgiving.com.

The session kicked off with a discussion around the role of philanthropists today. Fran put forward the view that philanthropists ought to use their unique position to fund innovative, potentially risky, projects that the Government cannot. In some cases, that might mean providing capital in order to test a new model for delivery (governments often find it difficult to invest in “unproven” organisations or models). Marcelle agreed that philanthropists need to recognise their comparative advantage in the social change ecosystem by providing “more than money”: philanthropic investments must add up to “more than the sum of their parts”, and effect change well beyond the value of the initial investment.

Bringing “more than money” to philanthropy was a theme that ran through the discussions. Marcelle co-founded Holiday-Rentals.com in 1996, and when she sold the business in 2005 she sought to apply her business experience from Holiday Rentals to her philanthropy. Marcelle has not only built a successful platform from which oft-overlooked social groups can raise money and awareness of their work, but she’s also leveraged substantial funds from other institutions, including Government. Earlier this year, Localgiving.com ran a matched fund which raised an impressive total of £1.2 million from an initial £500,000 investment from the Office for Civil Society.

Fran has similarly applied her professional skills to her philanthropy, using her extensive knowledge of online and digital technologies to assess grant applications and offer advice to Indigo Trust grantees. However, whilst Fran and Marcelle have applied their substantial existing experience to philanthropy, they both recognise the need to network and learn from others. For Fran in particular, this is also about publicly sharing detailed information about the grants the Indigo Trust makes. This strong belief in funder transparency has led Indigo to sign up to the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI), a consistent way of publishing information about international aid.

Sharing insight and experience lies at the core of the Institute’s flagship donor education programme, The Philanthropy Workshop (TPW). TPW provides a confidential forum in which philanthropists may seek advice of their peers, get feedback, and share learnings from achievements (and failures!). This week, members of Cohort 19 of TPW are convening in New York for the third module of learning of the programme. Participants will gain practical knowledge on essential tools to measure results, learn about advocacy as a tool for social change, and receive constructive feedback on their individual strategies for giving. Upon graduation from the Workshop, they will join a supportive group of TPW alumni with whom they will continue to network and develop their knowledge of philanthropy.

For information about joining the next cohort of TPW, please see here or contact The Philanthropy Workshop team at tpw@instituteforphilanthropy.org or on +44 (0) 207 040 0262 (in the UK) or +1 212 513 0020 (in the US). 

The Giving List, the Giving Pledge, and setting timelines for philanthropic giving

The Giving List, published annually alongside The Sunday Times Rich List, celebrates the philanthropy of Britain and Ireland’s most generous individuals. Ordered by proportion of wealth donated over the last year, the number one spot this year is occupied by Jersey-based David Kirch thanks to his recent £100m pledge to the island’s elderly. Giving List stalwarts Christopher Cooper-Hohn and Lord Sainsbury follow Kirch in second and third place, and newcomers Talal Shakerchi and Martin Lewis are ranked fourth and fifth on the list respectively.

Looking at the list as a whole, it’s encouraging  to see that there has been an overall increase in giving of 21% by Britain and Ireland’s wealthiest constituents, a finding which seems to run contrary to decline in charitable giving among the general public as reported by CAF in November last year.  This actually represents a decline in the total proportion of wealth donated compared to last year’s List; however, this is attributed to the fact that there has been a sharp increase in the overall fortunes of those on the Rich List.

There are plenty of other observations from the Giving List which give confidence. Not least the fact that there are several newcomers to this year’s list (highest rated are Talal Shakerchi and Martin Lewis); that the overall number of £1m plus gifts has risen over the last year; and that six of the wealthiest families have made the Top 150 of the Giving List for the first time.

Another interesting trend which is teased out by the List’s researchers is that of the growing desire amongst the wealthy to create a philanthropic legacy. They link this desire to generate the legacy during ones lifetime with the global success of the Giving Pledge, the campaign started by the Gates and Buffet to encourage the super-wealthy to give the majority of their assets to good causes. This year six (and soon to be seven) philanthropists on the List have signed the Pledge, and five of whom have made or will make their commitment in 2013.

Earlier this year, the Institute conducted a survey of its network of philanthropists to gauge their attitudes towards the Giving Pledge. We found that the issue of family and philanthropic legacy was one of great importance to respondents: in fact, a “wish to pass wealth to future generations” was the second most popular reason given by respondents for not signing the Pledge. The most popular reason was a “wish to remain private about my philanthropy”. For those who had signed the Pledge or adopted its principles, the most common motivation was “a wish to devote the majority of wealth to good causes”, a response which garnered eight times as many votes than a “belief that wealth is a burden on future generations”.

For many, issues of legacy and the proportion of one’s wealth one chooses to give away are closely linked to the timeframe over which philanthropic assets are deployed. Indeed, one respondent to our Giving Pledge survey said that in addition to signing the Pledge or adopting its principles, they intend to deploy all of their philanthropic assets in their lifetime due to their belief that this will affect more meaningful social change than if they left funds in a perpetual trust.

To drill deeper into these issues, and to respond to interest from the Alumni of our donor education programmes, the Institute is conducting a new survey of its network. On this occasion, we are looking at the different periods of time over which donors choose to deploy their philanthropic assets and how time-lines chosen affect and relate to philanthropic activity. The results will help to build a picture of whether philanthropists consider the issue of time-line as important to their philanthropy, and what affects factors affect the decisions made. The Institute has considered these issues before, most recently in our 2010 research report “The Power of Now: Spend out trusts and foundations in the UK”, and we hope that this new work will build on our previous research to provide useful insight for philanthropists and the philanthropic community alike.

If you would like more information about our new research on setting timelines for giving, please contact Daisy Wakefield at daisy@instituteforphilanthropy.org or on +44 (0) 207 040 0262. 

Relative Values: A conversation on philanthropy across generations

Last week, the Institute and Barclays hosted an exclusive event in central London on the topic of family philanthropy. Three prominent philanthropists – Hannah Rothschild of the Rothschild Foundation, Anna Southall of the Barrow Cadbury Trust and Katherine Lorenz of The Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation – formed a panel, facilitated by Mary Glanville, Managing Director UK of the Institute and introduced by Emma Turner, Director of Client Philanthropy Service at Barclays Wealth and Investment Management, to discuss their personal experiences of giving with an audience of over forty philanthropists.

At the Institute, we regularly consider the issues around next generation philanthropy – both in our education courses for donors as well as in our knowledge development programme – and we appreciate the unique challenges and opportunities that arise when giving as a family. As one panellist said, “family philanthropy can be very difficult – it can sometimes feel as though you have to choose between social impact and your relationship with your family”. Mary facilitated an informative and lively discussion between the panellists, who spoke frankly about their own experiences and in so doing provided practical advice to our audience. Here are some highlights of their discussion:

• Getting involved in your family’s philanthropy can serve not only to develop understanding of best practice in philanthropy, but can also assist your professional career. One panellist explained that her experience of being a trustee at a young age gave her invaluable knowledge of governance which she used very successfully in her independent career. The knowledge transfer has worked both ways for each of our panellists as expertise gained in their respective careers has also given added dimension to their family’s giving.
• It’s helpful to encourage the next generation to get involved in philanthropic activity at a very early age – perhaps by ring-fencing small sums of money and asking them to choose how to give it, or getting them to do a pitch on behalf of their chosen charity to the trustees of the foundation.
• Recruiting trustees and staff members who are not members of your own family can be pivotal in bringing balance in structures dominated by family dynamics, as well as a different perspective to board discussions. You can also gain valuable issue-area expertise that members of your family may not already bring to the table.
• Recognising the value of your name may enable you to use all of your assets for good; one of our speakers’ trusts took a strategic decision to allow grantees to say that they had received philanthropic money from them as they saw that it helped the groups they support to leverage other funding and strengthen their advocacy initiatives.
• Think about the future of your family’s trust: consider setting a strategy that means the trust isn’t restricted to funding very specific issues in the future if they are no longer relevant. This may allow each generation to shape the focus of the trust and to ensure that its work is always appropriate for current needs.

The Institute for Philanthropy will be running a two-day education course for next generation philanthropists in London in June. For more information about this course, or any of our other donor education programmes, please contact the The Philanthropy Workshop team on: tpw@instituteforphilanthropy.org

Family philanthropy event with Barclays Wealth and Investment Management – summary coming soon!

The Institute for Philanthropy and Barclays Wealth and Investment Management last night hosted a conversation with three prominent philanthropists at an exclusive event focused on family philanthropy. We were delighted to welcome guests from a wide range of different geographies and philanthropic perspectives to hear what was a lively and informative discussion from the panel. Keep an eye on our blog next week for a summary of the discussions!

A response to the Giving Pledge announcement

The Giving Pledge is the most high profile public campaign promoting philanthropy among the wealthy. A unique, international survey of high net worth individuals has been conducted by the Institute for Philanthropy which reveals the attitudes of philanthropists to the Giving Pledge.

The majority of respondents (68.4%) estimate that they will give up to 50% of their wealth in their lifetimes. Of the 26.3% of respondents who estimated that they will give at least 50% of their wealth in their lifetimes less than half (four of ten) have signed up to the Giving Pledge or adopted its principles.  Two people (5%) did not respond to this question. 18.42% estimate they will give between 51-75% of wealth; 7.9% estimate they will give over 76% of wealth.  Furthermore, the majority have already decided the way in which they will carry out their giving (in their lifetimes, or through a vehicle after their death, for example).

David Sainsbury, one of the new Giving Pledge signatories announced today, explains his motivations for philanthropy: “A number of years ago my wife, Susie, and I decided that spending any more money on ourselves or our family would not add anything to our happiness, but that using it to support social progress was something that we both found deeply fulfilling. We, therefore, decided to transfer gradually most of our wealth to our charitable trusts, and looking back that has turned out to be a very life-enhancing decision.”

The motive for the four philanthropists who completed the survey and who have signed up to the Giving Pledge or have adopted principles is “Wish to devote the majority of wealth to good causes”, not “Wish to encourage other people to become more involved in philanthropy” or “Belief that wealth is a burden on future generations”.

Interestingly, our results indicate that the number of philanthropists who have already made the decision to commit the majority of their wealth to good causes is potentially much greater than the Giving Pledge campaign implies.

This could be due to a low level of knowledge of the Pledge among philanthropists (just over half of the respondents had heard of the Giving Pledge and knew what it consisted of (55.2%) and of those who have not heard of the Giving Pledge, half are in the UK (four people) and half in North America (three from the US and one from Canada)).

There are however other factors beyond a lack of knowledge: our survey found that the most common consideration behind not signing the Pledge or adopting principles is a desire to remain private. The second most popular consideration was a wish to pass wealth to future generations.

NOTES:

• Respondents came from seven different countries, the UK (39.5%) and US (36.8%) were the most common geographies, however we also had respondents from Canada, Mexico, Netherlands, Finland and Italy.
• The average annual giving of respondents is $1,532,941 (result possibly skewed by two donors who are giving away very large sums of money). One third of respondents are giving away at least $1m annually.
• Of those who have signed up or have adopted the principles of the Giving Pledge, these people are giving away at least $1m philanthropically a year
• The timeframe in which giving will take place is fairly mixed: 26.3% said the majority of giving would be carried out during the philanthropists lifetime, 31.5% said that there would be a vehicle for philanthropy after their death, and 29% said that they had not decided yet.
• The majority of respondents reported they believed that the Giving Pledge would result in an increase in philanthropic money (71%).
• Many respondents expressed the belief that the role of philanthropy was not just to “throw money at problems”; rather it should be well-researched, thought through and strategically deployed for impact. As one donor said of the Giving Pledge: “money shouldn’t be the only thing acknowledged”.
• The survey was distributed throughout an influential network of philanthropists, many of whom have graduated from The Philanthropy Workshop (TPW) programme which educates major donors in the skills of strategic philanthropy.
• 38 people responded to the survey

www.instituteforphilanthropy.org

For more information please contact:

Daisy Wakefield,

daisy@instituteforphilanthropy.org

+44 (0) 207 2400626

Three “The Philanthropy Workshop” Alumni are honoured at prestigious philanthropy awards

In the week when media attention was focussed on the charitable status afforded to what appears to be a financial vehicle, the Cup Trust received far more media attention than the Beacon Fellowship Awards did.   The Beacon Fellowships recognise a broad range of philanthropic activity contributing time, talent and money to achieving meaningful social change.

There is a growing body of evidence – compiled by Beth Breeze at the Centre for Charitable Giving and Philanthropy and others – which shows that the press is much more likely to depict philanthropists in a negative light than a positive one, preferring to focus on lifestyle, wealth and appearance rather than social impact. This begs the question of what more can we do to raise awareness and celebration of the positive contributions of philanthropy to society?  We believe that the Beacon Awards represent a positive step towards redressing the balance in the way in which philanthropy is viewed in the UK.

Now in its eighth year, the Beacon Awards, which are sponsored by J.P. Morgan Private Bank and supported by the City of London Corporation’s charity City Bridge Trust and Pears Foundation, are given to individuals, families and small groups of individuals working collaboratively for outstanding philanthropic achievement across seven distinct categories.  Names familiar to the public, though perhaps not for philanthropy, including J K Rowling OBE and Sir Ronald Cohen were among the recipients, as were three alumni of The Philanthropy Workshop (TPW), our flagship programme.

Marcelle Speller and Nicholas and Jane Ferguson, who all participated in TPW between 2006 and 2008, have developed effective strategies to support local communities in the UK.  Marcelle Speller, along with Richard Bradbury, Stephen Dawson and Michael Norton, was given the “Beacon Award for Pioneering Philanthropy” for having demonstrated an original approach in meeting a social, environmental or charitable cause.  As a result of participating in TPW, Marcelle set up Localgiving.com, a digital platform that makes fundraising easy for small, local charities and their supporters. The groups on the site, which are vetted by Community Foundations or Localgiving.com, are also able to use the platform to raise awareness and support for their work, as well as raising funds. Since its launch in 2008, the initiative has gone from strength to strength: in 2012 over £3million donations, Gift Aid and match funding was channelled to 3,000+ local charities and community groups registered to the site.

Marcelle commented: “I’m delighted to receive the award – to be honoured by your peers is the ultimate accolade. I’m especially happy that the impact Localgiving.com is having on small, local charities and community groups has been recognised in this way.  And without the inspiration and great supportive friends that I received from the Institute for Philanthropy workshop, it would never have happened.”

Nicholas and Jane Ferguson and Jack Morris were awarded the “Beacon Award for Place-Based Philanthropy”, which celebrates the work of an individual, family or small group of individuals working collaboratively, whose giving serves a geographical area — whether a village, city, region or country.  Together with their family, Nicholas and Jane run The Kilfinan Trust, which supports communities in Kintyre, Mid Argyll and the Cowal Peninsula in Argyll and Bute. In particular, their philanthropy is focussed on families, young people and the elderly, which are groups that are particularly vulnerable in this isolated and rural area.

Following the announcement of the award, Nicholas said: “This award, for our work with young people and the elderly in Argyll and Bute, stemmed directly from both of us having undertaken the TPW course. We knew we wanted to be of concrete help to our own community. The Philanthropy Workshop taught us how to go about it, and gave us the confidence to do so.”

Despite the Beacon Awards honouring numerous examples of philanthropic achievement and the Cup Trust being an individual case, the latter still received far more media attention, which goes to show that there is still some way to go in raising awareness of the social value of philanthropy. The Beacon Awards make an important contribution to this effort; the Institute is reviewing how we can better utilise our assets to play a bigger part in raising the profile of philanthropy too.

To find out more about The Philanthropy Workshop and the work of the Institute for Philanthropy, please visit our website or email tpw@instituteforphilanthropy.org

The future of philanthropy: collaboration and partnerships are increasingly important

A growing trend, identified in the annual Family Foundation Giving Trends (PDF) report released in December 2012, is an increase in existing and proposed strategic collaboration and financial partnerships among donors. This is a trend that we have seen grow within our own influential network of philanthropists, many of whom have graduated from The Philanthropy Workshop (TPW) programme which educates major donors in the skills of strategic philanthropy.

These partnerships go beyond “traditional” giving circles and co-funding opportunities. The Indigo Trust funds technology driven projects primarily in Africa, but also uses social and digital media to connect with other funders and share insight. The fundraising community can benefit greatly from the expanded use of social media by donors, gaining a valuable insight into their activities and requirements. The Oak Foundation, which is led by TPW alumnus Dr. Kristian Parker, has taken part in large-scale collaborations with other donors in order to leverage resources, for example to create an institution or fill a gap in infrastructure.

While collaboration and partnership are not new concepts, they are becoming an increasingly important part of the way in which philanthropists work. Facilitated by new technologies, partnerships formed for a range of objectives are set to become commonplace among philanthropists wishing to maximise the impact of their work.

By Mary Glanville, Managing Director of the Institute for Philanthropy in the UK.

This post first appeared in the January – March 2013 edition of Bond‘s “The Networker” magazine. Please click here to read the full magazine (PDF). 

UK YPI participants donate over £1 million to charity!

December 2012 was a landmark milestone for the Youth Philanthropy Initiative (YPI) in the UK: grants won for grassroots charities by pupils across the UK reached a grand total of £1 million!

Since launching in one school in London in 2006, YPI is now delivered in eighty five schools across England, eighty one in Scotland and, for the first time this year, in five Northern Irish schools.  The past six years have seen groups of young people across the United Kingdom identify a cause they care about and subsequently champion a local charity that commits time and effort to that cause.  Thanks to the passion, compassion, and dedication of these young people, YPI has been able to channel hundreds of grants of £3,000 to grassroots charities operating within their communities.

On 13^th December 2012, pupils, staff and charity representatives celebrated this milestone at Lampton School in Hounslow, London, whilst the following day a similar celebratory event took place north of the border at Banchory Academy, Aberdeenshire.

The significance of this achievement is clear, especially as the UK’s national and local governments are further tightening the amount of funding available to charities delivering crucial services to their communities. Having spoken to many of the charities represented by YPI Participants, it is evident that their financial and human resources are suffering at this time but that the efforts and engagement shown by YPI participants is invaluable as the charities seek to foster a wider support base from within in their communities.

Kudzai, a Year 10 student from Lampton School, who is currently participating in the YPI programme, said: “YPI helped me to understand that there are people right here in my local community working tirelessly to bring about change and do the right thing. Most people my age look at our community and struggle to find inspiration but I’ve learnt that there are people right here in Hounslow working hard to make a difference and that’s inspired me to try and do what I can.”

Statements such as Kudzai’s are common from students taking part in the programme and represent a sense of responsibility to their communities present in the younger generation that all too often goes unrecognised.  As YPI donations in the UK pass the £1 million mark, we of course look forward to many more millions of pounds donated in years to come but even more so to the many thousands of young people that will commit their time, talent, and creativity to fight for causes important to them in their communities.  Here’s to the next stage of YPI’s growth in the UK.

Written by George Macpherson, YPI Schools Coordinator in the UK

You can find out more about YPI here: http://www.goypi.org/

Impact investing for community revitalisation

Socially-responsible investing. Mission-related investing. Impact investing. While the terms are not new, deploying capital beyond traditional grant mechanisms is a growing trend among philanthropists—individuals, foundations and corporations alike. The Philanthropy Workshop alumni and participants, along with other philanthropists in our broader network, travelled from Canada, Mexico, Texas, Pennsylvania and New York to meet with seasoned impact investing practitioners for a workshop last week to help us unpack the strategies behind the terminology.

We approached our workshop from two angles: (1) how can an individual make a shift to investing more assets for mission and persuade others, like family or board members, to adopt this strategy; and (2) what does it take to actually select and manage these mission-related investments and how do they uniquely help achieve positive returns for society?

To answer these questions we were joined by:

• Clara Miller, President of F.B. Heron Foundation, dedicated to helping low-income people and communities help themselves. Heron made a bold move this year to invest 100% of its $250 million endowment for mission.
• Angela Mwanza and Mark Sloss, Private Wealth Advisors, UBS who work with affluent families to implement high performing, values-based investments.
• Andi Phillips, Vice President of the Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group & COO of 10,000 Small Businesses, the firm’s initiative to provide capital and mentoring to owners of small businesses in cities throughout the United States.
• Robin Hacke, former venture capitalist and tech entrepreneur who is Director of the Living Cities Catalyst Fund, seeded by 22 of the largest family and corporate foundations to deploy investment capital in low-income and underserved urban communities.

Before we share practical tips from our experts, below are a few key definitions drawn from the Social Investment Forum and Mission Investors Exchange and presented by UBS:

Sustainable and Responsible Investing (SRI) considers both the investor’s financial needs and an investment’s impact on society. SRI investors encourage corporations to improve their practices on environmental, social and governance issues. You may also hear SRI-like approaches to investing referred to as mission investing, double or triple bottom line investing, sustainable investing or green investing.

Mission Related Investing covers two distinct categories of investments: market-rate mission-related investments (MRIs) that have a positive social impact while contributing to long-term financial stability and growth; and program-related investments (PRIs) that are designed to achieve specific program objectives while earning a below market rate return.

Impact Investments are investments made into companies, organizations and funds with the intention to generate measurable social and environmental impact alongside a financial return. Impact investments can be made in both emerging and developed markets and target a range of returns from below market to market rate, depending on the circumstances. Impact investors actively seek to place capital in businesses and funds that can harness the positive power of the enterprise.

Here are the Top 10 Tips shared by our experts:

1. Family members and/or foundation trustees might be skeptical about impact investing, preferring to manage the investment of endowment assets completely separate from the programmatic activities of the foundation. To overcome this hurdle, a helpful piece of advice is to simply say: “Let’s try it” and remind people that “it’s not new, it’s just different.” Once people experience a deal or two, they often become more excited by the opportunities to use capital in ways beyond traditional grants and gain a greater understanding of what it takes to run and grow and organization.
2. An entity that governs itself in a way that is good for the community, the environment and the bottom line is arguably a good company to invest in, regardless of intent to be socially responsible.
3. If you want to start adding socially-responsible investments to your portfolio, the most important guidance you can give your financial advisor is a clear mission and vision for your charitable work. That mission and vision serves as the framework to inform your investment policy statement that a financial advisor can then follow.
4. One of the best ways to learn how to make social impact investments is to pool resources with more experienced impact investors—learn by doing. Another productive strategy to match lenders with borrowers is to go through a community-based intermediary familiar with the local social dynamics and institutions. In the United States, for example, certified Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) are a good resource for deals. CDFIs provide a unique range of financial products and services in economically distressed target markets, such as mortgage financing for low-income and first-time homebuyers and not-for-profit developers, flexible underwriting and risk capital for needed community facilities, and technical assistance, commercial loans and investments to small start-up or expanding businesses in low-income areas.
5. While providing loans to scale a community business or organization is important, so is access to business expertise/mentors to help build the capacity of the small business owners and leaders of community organizations.
6. For financial services firms in the lending arena, a strong argument can be made that it’s good business to put capital toward social impact. Firms already make placed-based investments, most notably underwriting real estate deals. These transactions are more likely to succeed in thriving communities—neighborhoods with good schools, health care, housing and retail businesses. So, adding a social impact component that helps serve communities where the investment is made is a good practice.
7. Perhaps surprisingly, in the field of impact investing, the challenge is less a supply than demand problem. There often are more funds available to be lent or invested than there are investees capable of effectively deploying large amounts of money—i.e., a capital absorption problem exists. Many organizations are not yet equipped to take on loans and go to scale.
8. However, once an organization is prepared to go to scale, philanthropic contributions are not enough. Access to significant debt capital to grow the organization—“enterprise-level” capital—is key.
9. A common “mistake” among new impact investors is to set harder underwriting requirements than for commercial loans.
10. The best community investments typically involve a consortium of organizations working together with a wide range of civic leaders, supporting a clear vision and a “big hairy audacious goal” or “BHAG.”

This post was written by Tracy Mack Parker, who is Managing Director of the Institute in the US.

The ‘Impact Investing for Community Revitalisation’ event took place on the 13^th December in New York. The event was open to philanthropists; for more information about the Institute’s events in New York, please contact Jodi Chao: Jodi@instituteforphilanthropy.org

TPW Alumni are honoured at the Spears Wealth Management Awards

The great and the good of the private wealth management world turned out last Tuesday for the Spears Wealth Management Awards, which this year took place at auction house Phillips de Pury in London. The awards, which are now in their sixth year, celebrate the UK’s top wealth managers, philanthropists, lawyers, and entrepreneurs for their successes, innovations and acumen in the year 1 July 2011 to 30 June 2012. Whilst we could not attend the evening ourselves, we were so pleased to hear that this year the two awards for philanthropy (Philanthropist of the Year and Lifetime Achievement in Philanthropy award) were given to the Indigo Trust’s Fran Perrin, and The Funding Network’s Fred Mulder, both of whom are alumni of the Institute’s Philanthropy Workshop.

Fran Perrin, who is also a trustee of the Institute for Philanthropy, was awarded Philanthropist of the Year for her work with the Indigo Trust, a London-based grant-making foundation which supports technology driven projects to bring about social change, largely in African countries. The trust, which is still relatively young, has made great impact in affecting change in the areas in which it works, primarily in innovation, transparency and citizen-empowerment. Importantly, the Indigo Trust also represents a fantastic example of a truly strategic foundation: by investing in locally-driven initiatives, the trust is able to catalyse further social change in the communities in which its grantees work.

Fred Mulder, with three other donors, founded The Funding Network (TFN), “the friendly Dragons’ Den for charities”, in 2002. The premise of TFN is simple: that giving is more interesting, more satisfying, and probably more competent if it is done in the company of other people. One of the first open giving circles in the UK, TFN has quickly become a huge success, regularly attracting a diverse mixture of donors who are pitched to by local, national and international charitable projects. To date, TFN groups across the country have raised over £4 million for over 590 charities, an enormous achievement. Fred was also the winner of the Judges Special Beacon Fellowship Prize in March 2004, and was awarded a CBE for Services to Philanthropy in the 2012 New Year honours list.

In response to receiving the award, Fran Perrin said last week:

“I’m surprised and delighted to be awarded the Spears Wealth Management Awards Philanthropist of the Year. I hope this recognises both my passion for strategic philanthropy and also the importance of using modern technologies to improve lives across African countries. I’m very proud of the work of the Indigo Trust and the fantastic team who make it possible to support extraordinary individuals and projects.

I’m particularly pleased to see the Spears Lifetime Achievement in Philanthropy award go to Dr Frederick Mulder who, like me, has worked with the Institute for Philanthropy to help donors achieve impact.”

Both awards are extremely well-deserved, and we congratulate both Fran and Fred for their fantastic contribution to philanthropy.