[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_column_text] Just Giving: Why Philanthropy Is Failing Democracy and How It Can Do Better, by Rob Reich. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, USA, 2018, ISBN 9780691184395 Just Giving, by Stanford University professor Rob Reich, is a fascinating book for...

[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_column_text] Giving Done Right: Effective Philanthropy and Making Every Dollar Count, by Phil Buchanan. Public Affairs. New York, 2019; 256 pp: ISBN 9781541742253 The act of giving is defined in deceptively simple terms by any dictionary: “to grant or bestow...

[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_column_text]From Nigeria to India, China and beyond it would seem that philanthropy is entering a new golden age. Every few months brings news of another billionaire making a substantial pledge towards addressing a pressing economic or social issue....

[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_column_text]HOW often have you heard that non profits need to be “more business like”? Or witnessed the awe that greets people who cross over from the private sector to a job in an NGO? Despite the global financial...

[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_column_text] Anand Giridharadas’ book, Winners Take All – The Elite Charade of Changing the World, has drawn so much comment that any review at this point seems both superfluous and tardy. Nonetheless, for those who’d appreciate a detailed account...

[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_column_text]What are the consequences of surging philanthropic resources and ambition in a context of falling public spending and growing disenchantment of citizens with representative democracy? David Callahan’s book, The Givers, posits an answer to that question in the...

[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_column_text]Do we really understand scale, and the trade-offs we make in the pursuit of it? It is a (if not the) buzzword in the world of Indian philanthropy; the holy grail that nonprofits must beat a path to if they are...

[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_column_text]There is much to celebrate in Indian philanthropy at present. News headlines and informed opinion concur that religious and secular charitable giving, and philanthropy by businesses, foundations, and wealthy individuals are growing apace. Newer forms of social investment...

[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_column_text]Long-standing traditions enjoin Indians across religion, ethnicity and class to give without consideration of return. ‘One who enjoys abundance without sharing with others is indeed a thief,’ says the Bhagavad Gita, a 700-verse Hindu scripture. Even before the Companies...

[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_column_text] The history, evolution and contemporary state of Indian philanthropy, succinctly yet comprehensively told. The chapters on women in philanthropy and on the unfinished agenda of philanthropy in India are of particular value. Pushpa's expertise, based on her long...