APB! The Aspen Philanthropy Blog | The Aspen Institute

In our increasingly globalized world, it is easy to expand our focus ever wider to issues and projects in all corners of our globe. Yet, philanthropy, wherever it is implemented, requires an understanding and appreciation for the local context – an awareness obtained through careful study, patience, an open mind and a listening ear.

On GPF 2011’s opening day, Jeff Raikes of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation reminded us that successful philanthropy takes not only a strategic focus and leveraging of core competencies, but also great partnerships. This is one of the new fundamentals we are exploring at GPF 2011: aligning philanthropic investments to achieve greater impact.

This afternoon at the GPF Conference, we welcomed Ben Affleck for a conversation with Laurene Powell Jobs. The actor, writer, director, activist, and philanthropist premiered a short film he created to show both the tremendous tragedy and the incredible hope and resilience he’s seen in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

One of the turning points we are exploring at GPF 2011 is disruptive connective technology. On a scale previously unimagined, the expansion of connective technology has enhanced communication within and among societies and empowered individuals previously isolated by geography, poverty or politics.

This afternoon, on the opening day of the 10th anniversary Global Philanthropy Forum, I had the pleasure of speaking in conversation with Jeff Raikes, CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Among its many tremendous contributions, the Gates Foundation has been an intellectual leader when it comes to measurement and evaluation, or M&E.

Sunday’s New York Times article on Google.org caught my attention. The Times is one of the few daily papers that cover the philanthropic sector, and it does so with the same seriousness it applies to developments in business and government.

In their rush to gain an end-of-the-year tax deal, federal elected leaders postponed hard choices, and in the process, they denied the government the revenue it needs to respond to unforeseen crises and to deliver on promises made.

“The best boost for our nation’s civic health is to ensure all children graduate from high school and complete college,” according to the 2010 Civic Health Assessment. Educational attainment is the greatest predictor of future civic engagement, this National Conference on Citizenship (NCoC) report finds. Read More

“Social media powers social networks for social change.”

Beth Kanter and Allison Fine offer that thesis in The Networked Nonprofit: Connecting with Social Media to Drive Change.

Thanks to a decades-long focus on improving access to college, nearly seven in ten Americans today enroll in some form of postsecondary education within two years of leaving high school. That’s a record number, and it is impressive. But it also obscures another reality.

The Aspen Philanthropy Blog -- reborn from our longstanding newsletter the Aspen Philanthropy Letter -- is an ongoing conversation about the power of philanthropy and the way that social innovation can move that basic mission of helping others forward.

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Conflict Philanthropy: Great Risks, Great Rewards

New Fundamental: Aligning for Impact

“No matter how long the night, the day is sure to come”: in Conversation with Ben Affleck

Turning Point: Disruptive Connective Technology

A look behind the data...

Can Google Change the World? Or, Has it Already?

Nonprofits May Find Themselves Paying Dearly for 2010's Last-Minute Tax Deal

The Nation’s Civic Health? Could Be Better, Could Be Worse

Gladwell vs. Kanter: Can Revolution be Tweeted?

Race To The Finish: Dropping in on College Dropouts

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