Global Perspectives

Charles Handy, listed as one of the world’s top ten gurus, has a new book out. The New Philanthrapists documents the lives of 23 individuals and their contribution to, you guessed it, philanthropy. Certainly, philanthropy is experiencing something of a renaissance. It may be to do with the unprecedented wealth that has been generated over the last ten years. In the UK alone, there are approximately 450,000 millionaires. These are people with cash assets of more than a million and don’t include the countless more sitting on millions in their properties. Handy has built his career on spotting the signs of the times. He has discerned that these new millionaires are becoming increasingly engaged in making a social return. After they have achieved great wealth, they want to use it. In the words of one leading industrialist ‘I don’t want to be the richest man in the graveyard!’ These individuals are different from the traditional donor. Scarily, they want to be involved . This is sendin...

Robert Louis Stevenson summed up how many of us feel when he wrote; ‘The world is so big and I am so small, I do not like it at all, at all.’ The world faces a giddying array of problems. At times they seem to dwarf hope, intimidate courage and undermine action. I work in International Development. One of the great challenges we face is convincing partners, supporters and stakeholders that progress and real accomplishment is possible. We need not be on the losing side. The Make Poverty History coalition was a testament to that. Hundreds of organisations, hundreds of thousands of individuals energised and enthused with a freshly articulated vision. Inspiring confidence that we can make a serious dent to poverty is critical. Every generation has to re-discover this idealism. Every generation has to decide how highly it values changing the world. However sympathetic people are to cause, if they are not convinced that progress can and will be made, their support will not be forthcoming. ...

We are all embroiled in retail. And I mean all of us. No one can opt out. From the moment we existed, we became a consumer. But something has changed. Like never before, we are all connected. What our generation eats, buys, wears and even cheers on a Saturday afternoon hails from a foreign land. A global work force is deployed in the search to manufacture products at a price that will meet our insatiable desire to consume. This unfettered desire is a threat to our future but may also hold the key to a brighter tomorrow. Bono’s new Product (Red) is a case in point. It aims to harness consumer power not undermine it. A percentage of the profits generated by its branded items (now including trade-mark Bono wrap arounds, mobile phones, shoes, clothes and credit cards) go to fight AIDS in Africa www.joinred.com . The products aim to rival any on the market. They aim to win you as a consumer (and as a compassionate, enlightened human being.) Bono makes one emphatic point: as consumers, we h...