philanthropy FINDING STRENGTH IN NUMBERS
N
No-one in the world of philanthropy would deny that things are changing. As there is increasing pressure to do more with less and create long-term, meaningful systemic change, mindsets are beginning to change. There are many philanthropists across the world, especially those new to the field, who would like to invest large sums of money, but find that mechanisms are limited in doing this without starting their own foundation. Although this is one solution, not all philanthropists want the responsibility, nor have the means or infrastructure required to create large-scale systems change – they simply want to ensure that their invested money delivers the greatest possible impact. The dilemma of how best to spend this money is nothing new, as philanthropist Andrew Carnegie said over a century ago, “It is more difficult to give money away intelligently than to earn it in the first place.” Between 2000 and 2014, the number of foundations in the United States alone rose from 56,000 to 86,000 respectively and today there are around 1.6 million non-profit organisations registered in the
80
THE CITIZEN
