Joan McEntee｜Think Outside the Box in Philanthropy
Date：2021-09-27
Source: China-Europe-America Wechat Official Account
(Click to Watch Video)
Board of Trustees of China-Europe-America Global Initiative, Former Under Secretary of US Department of Commerce,
Joan McEntee's Speech
Hello and good afternoon.
We are currently in an era of unprecedented transformation. And coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic, humanity is being put to the test, not least in how we work together to solve the many complex problems of our time.
Philanthropy is a key to this endeavor, but we must acknowledge that it is also having difficulties, as the very concept of traditional philanthropy is coming under attack. Critics are questioning whether philanthropy is really effective, how should it be viewed in the context of global inequality, and whether it can remain a legitimate undertaking as currently practiced.
Since the global health crisis started, many among the wealthy have expressed their desire to contribute financially by deploying resources, supporting communities in their home countries, social enterprises, or setting up philanthropic trusts. It has also led to the greater realization of people's own mortality, and the possible transients of hard-earned assets. Philanthropic efforts must be relevant and responsive to these initiatives. They clearly benefit the philanthropy practice.
The philanthropic programs provided by the large foundations, international entities such as the UN, and extremely wealthy heads of business are certainly critical and highly effective.
But perhaps there's also a value in efforts to supplement these programs, such targets include private family and public business entities. Within relatively newly-created businesses of significant wealth, many employers are becoming attuned to the demands of their boards, employees, and their public consumers to support more than national emergencies and contribute to social-issue solutions.
Meanwhile, many wealthy families throughout the globe have taken philanthropic interest in action through family offices to become a catalyst for positive social change.
Currently, we are working with some of the best financial, social and management experts to respond to these new philanthropic requests. There's also the potential of a domino effect of such family offices that is galvanizing segments of the community to come together to collectively build a more sustainable ecosystem, for not only others in the community, but future generations as well.
A report from Harvard University recently noted that the philanthropic practice is remarkably young. Nearly 3/4 of foundations were founded within the past 25 years within philanthropy. What that means is that philanthropy can play an even more significant role and development work in the years ahead, as people develop priority areas and become even more sophisticated in their abilities to identify worthwhile investments.
Philanthropy is now much less about putting band-aids on problems that are broken, and much more about fixing the underlying systems that are causing those injuries to happen in the first place.
However, international commitment and collaboration are necessary to explore and achieve philanthropic expansion goals. The creation of an annual philanthropic summit of key players from the source and demand countries, as well as other key international stakeholders, could help focus on the need for new ways to look at increasing philanthropic opportunities.
Imagine a task force of international and country experts formed as a part of a summit to explore the following five "out-of-the-box philanthropic issues", such as, one, approaches to attract new wealth by exploring family offices, mega donors, and other new philanthropic incentives.
Two, solutions to address the lack of country-by-country philanthropic data, which prevents resources for being effectively allocated.
Three, ensuring that philanthropic giving is open and transparent, while a degree of anonymity may sometimes be required to protect a donor recipient. In general, we should aspire to openness.
Four, making philanthropy even more appealing to more audiences by ensuring that it's not seen merely as a tool for the powerful to entrench their advantages. It is vital to find ways to give away not only money, but also the attenuating power to make decisions.
Five, the creation of a clear message supporting the criticality of philanthropy by businesses, individuals, foundations, and governments globally.
Since Asia is the current side of the fast-growing segment, interested in philanthropic measures, and alternative means of giving are in high demand, we could hope that China might play the host country for such a high profile and international collaborative meeting.
Cooperation on the issue of philanthropy offers the US, the EU and China an important opportunity to strengthen their crucial relationship, as the need for philanthropy offers a relatively non-controversial arena for cooperation.
Combining the resources and complementing strengths of China, the EU and the United States would send a powerful message that they are indeed prepared to address the critical issue of philanthropy. And others should join them in this goal.
We hope that such a challenge will be met by a significant global response to help not just our neighbors, but in the end, also ourselves.
Thank you very much.
