Philanthropy steps in where government aid falls short

An article in yesterday’s Washington Times addresses the role of philanthropy  in spurring economic growth in developing countries as government aid lessens due to the financial crisis.  The article covers the Forum on Philanthropic Giving and U.S. Foreign Policy that was organized by the Council of Foreign Relations in Washington last week.   It quotes [...]

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Global Philanthropy Forum as a “do-gooders’ shindig”

The Economist published an article yesterday on the effects of the credit crunch on philanthropy – both from rich to poor countries, and within rich countries themselves.  The author seems optimistic about the ability of US foundations to continue to give at the levels of past years, and highlights discussions on this subject at GPF [...]

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Jane Wales, President and Co-Founder, Global Philanthropy Forum Recognized as Newsmaker

The Philanthropy News Digest spoke with Jane Wales, the co-founder of the Global Philanthropy Forum and president and CEO of the World Affairs Council about the world’s poor, the global economic crisis, its effect on philanthropy, and the Obama administration’s interest in social innovation.
Read the full interview: Jane Wales, President and Co-Founder, Global Philanthropy Forum: Philanthropy [...]

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Martin Wolf on fixing global finance

Martin Wolf, Associate Editor and Chief Economics Commentator for the Financial Times , joined us at the Council a few weeks ago to discuss the state of global finance.  In conversation with James Manyika of McKinsey, Wolf talked about the links between the microeconomics of finance and the macroeconomics of the balance of payments, demonstrating [...]

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“The End of Wall Street’s Boom”

Michael Lewis, who chronicled the excesses of Wall Street in his 1989 book, Liar’s Poker, has written a piece for Portfolio.com on what went wrong in our financial system and the select group of people that saw it coming. It’s called “The End of Wall Street’s Boom” and is one of the best accounts of [...]

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Ambassador Bruton on the “Buy American” idea

John Bruton, former Irish Prime Minister and current EU Ambassador to the United States, urged Congress on Monday to refrain from any “Buy American” provisions in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act now headed to the Senate. Bruton expressed the EU’s concerns over such action, saying that if approved, the measure would set a “dangerous [...]

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Secretary Paulson over Breakfast

The 74th Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Paulson has been on the front lines of the most significant global economic crisis in a generation. He joined the Council via webcast last week to offer remarks on US-Sino economic affairs.
The moderator, Mr. Timothy Dattels, is a Trustee of the World Affairs Council, and served as head [...]

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Looking Forward: Making Good on our Promises to the Poor

Across all panels in the past two days, and especially this morning, we have seen that technological innovation now arms us with unprecedented opportunities for alleviating poverty. In our final panel for the poverty alleviation track, we heard about the nexus between information and poverty from moderator Sonal Shah, Head [...]

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At the Clinton Global Initiative: Bono and others Find Hope Amidst the Financial Crisis

“This country that we sit in is a great country. And it’s a great country because it’s not just a country, it’s an idea. And that idea was supposed to be contagious – it’s bound up in the idea of the inalienable rights of men and women and children, equal in the eyes of God.” [...]

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