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GLOBAL LEADERSHIP AND PHILANTHROPY LEADING AS INVENTING A BETTER WORLD GLOBALNO LIDERSTVO I FILANTROPIJA VODE IZGRADNJI BOLJEG SVIJETA Duško Knežević 1 JEL Classification: O10; O19 Original Scientific Papaer Primljeno / Received: Septembre 10, 2017 Prihvaćeno / Accepted: Octobre 14, 2017 Abstract The article deals with the problems which the countries and nations are facing today are too big for them, they are cross-border and beyond their power to handle them by themselves. The issues we care about and that are changing our lives, such as climate change, privacy, equal opportunities, peace and prosperity, are global but their effects and consequences are very local. The climate change is making agriculture more and more risky, the prices of food much higher. Philanthropy is becoming more global, social and inclusive and gaining more optimism about its ability to impact the most important issues of the world today. The aim of this paper is to find out the potential of philanthropy, and to show the evidence about increasing a spirit of philanthropy, as important factor which will lead to overcoming inequality, and very warning problems of the humankind. Unfortunately, instrument which have contributed development of capitalism: market economy, and democracy are not enough to deal with complexity of today world. The hypothesis of this paper is that rational altruism is instru- ment which is the best solution for the world overcrowded by problems, and that philosophy of egoism has to be abandoned, and changed with philosophy of philanthropy. The conducted research is shown significant proof in favor of the that. Key words: Philanthropy, leadership, globalization, altruism, egoism. Sažetak Rad razmatra probleme sa kojima se suočavaju zemlje i nacije a koji su preveliki za njih, oni su preko- granični i van njihove moći da same upravljaju njima. Pitanja koja ih brinu i koja mijenjaju živote ljudi, kao što su klimatske promjene, privatnost, jednake mogućnosti, mir i prosperitet, su globalna, ali njihovi efekti i posljedice su vrlo lokalni. Klimatske promene čine poljoprivredu sve rizičnijom, a cijene hrane mnogo većim. Filantropija postaje sve globalnija i sve neophodnija za društvo, te dobija više optimizma o svojoj sposobnosti da utiče na najvažnija pitanja u svijetu danas. Cilj ovog rada je saznati potencijal filantropije i pokazati da postoje činjenice o pozitivnim pomacima u rešavanju gorućih pitanja čovečanstva pomoću filantropije. Rad je nastao iz ubjeđenja autora da, nažalost, ins- 1 The author is a member of the Clinton Global Initiative, partner of the Clinton Foundation, Board member of the Summit 100 Business Leaders of South East Europe Economics & Economy, Vol. 5, No. 9-10 (December, 2017), 55-66

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Page 1: GLOBAL LEADERSHIP AND PHILANTHROPY LEADING AS …economicsandeconomy.me/sites/economicsandeconomy.me/files/5… · GLOBALNO LIDERSTVO I FILANTROPIJA VODE IZGRADNJI BOLJEG SVIJETA

Global leadership and philanthropy - leading as inventing a better world

GLOBAL LEADERSHIP AND PHILANTHROPY LEADING AS INVENTING A BETTER WORLD

GLOBALNO LIDERSTVO I FILANTROPIJA VODE IZGRADNJI BOLJEG SVIJETA

Duško Knežević1

JEL Classification: O10; O19 Original Scientific Papaer

Primljeno / Received: Septembre 10, 2017 Prihvaćeno / Accepted: Octobre 14, 2017

Abstract The article deals with the problems which the countries and nations are facing today are too big for them, they are cross-border and beyond their power to handle them by themselves. The issues we care about and that are changing our lives, such as climate change, privacy, equal opportunities, peace and prosperity, are global but their effects and consequences are very local. The climate change is making agriculture more and more risky, the prices of food much higher. Philanthropy is becoming more global, social and inclusive and gaining more optimism about its ability to impact the most important issues of the world today. The aim of this paper is to find out the potential of philanthropy, and to show the evidence about increasing a spirit of philanthropy, as important factor which will lead to overcoming inequality, and very warning problems of the humankind. Unfortunately, instrument which have contributed development of capitalism: market economy, and democracy are not enough to deal with complexity of today world. The hypothesis of this paper is that rational altruism is instru-ment which is the best solution for the world overcrowded by problems, and that philosophy of egoism has to be abandoned, and changed with philosophy of philanthropy. The conducted research is shown significant proof in favor of the that. Key words: Philanthropy, leadership, globalization, altruism, egoism. Sažetak Rad razmatra probleme sa kojima se suočavaju zemlje i nacije a koji su preveliki za njih, oni su preko-granični i van njihove moci da same upravljaju njima. Pitanja koja ih brinu i koja mijenjaju živote ljudi, kao što su klimatske promjene, privatnost, jednake mogucnosti, mir i prosperitet, su globalna, ali njihovi efekti i posljedice su vrlo lokalni. Klimatske promene čine poljoprivredu sve rizičnijom, a cijene hrane mnogo vecim. Filantropija postaje sve globalnija i sve neophodnija za društvo, te dobija više optimizma o svojoj sposobnosti da utiče na najvažnija pitanja u svijetu danas. Cilj ovog rada je saznati potencijal filantropije i pokazati da postoje činjenice o pozitivnim pomacima u rešavanju gorućih pitanja čovečanstva pomoću filantropije. Rad je nastao iz ubjeđenja autora da, nažalost, ins-

1 The author is a member of the Clinton Global Initiative, partner of the Clinton Foundation,

Board member of the Summit 100 Business Leaders of South East Europe

Economics & Economy, Vol. 5, No. 9-10 (December, 2017), 55-66

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trument koji su doprineo razvoju kapitalizma, tržišna ekonomija i demokratija, nisu dovoljni da se bave složenošću današnjeg svjeta. Osnovna hipoteza je da je racionalni altruizam (sa filantropijom kao njenim spiritus movens) instrument koji je najbolje rešenje za svijet preopterećen problemima i da filozofiju egoizma treba napustiti. Ključne riječi: filantropija, liderstvo, globalizacija, altruizam, egoizam.

1. INTRODUCTION: WORLD IN DISORDER

The problems which the countries and nations are facing today are too big for them, they are cross-border and beyond their power to handle them by themselves. The issues we care about and that are changing our lives, such as climate change, privacy, equal opportunities, peace and prosperity, are global but their effects and consequences are very local. The climate change is making agriculture more and more risky, the prices of food much higher. Big data society is making manipula-tion of the public opinion much easier and democracy much more fragile. Wars and instability in the Middle East and Africa are changing the societies in Europe.

Negative aspects of globalization and inequality are creating an anti-globalization sentiment that is challenging the world order as we know it. In order to move forward, we need to understand what is happening and why it is impor-tant to people.

As the world has become a more complex place, the way giving is perceived and approached is changing, too. Philanthropy is becoming more global, social and inclusive and gaining more optimism about its ability to impact the most impor-tant issues of the world today. People see giving as just one element in solving a wide range of social problems which are important to solve for the future. Accord-ing to data from The Future of Philanthropy report from Fidelity Charitable® indi-vidual donors generate 87 percent of all charitable giving in the United States. New attitudes towards wealth are reshaping the donors’ approaches to giving, do-nating one’s wealth to charity rather than passing it down to your family is more frequent than it used to be.

Technological advances provide convenient tools for researching and funding charitable projects and organizations, and philanthropy has become more results-oriented. By The Future of Philanthropy report (Ibid) there are two main motivator for donate: an intrinsic motivator, such as values or peace of mind, and an external reason, such as making a difference or because there is great need (see . Table 1).

Non-profit and public-private partnerships are seen as the most likely to de-velop solutions. However, together with understanding that religious institutions, universities, businesses and social enterprises have a role in solving of the society’s challenges, business and individual donors are those who are expected to success-fully develop solutions for the society’s challenges.

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Table 1. The main reason for donation and motivators.

Reason Motivator Percent The cause or organization is important to me External motivator 59% Giving is part of my values or 49% my family’s values

Personal motivator 49%

I want to make a meaningful difference External motivator 28% There is a great need External motivator 24% Because it brings me satisfaction and peace of mind Personal motivator 21% To honor or memorialize someone Personal motivator 9% A person or an organization asked me to give 6% Source: The Future of Philanthropy report from Fidelity Charitable®, adjusted by author. 2. HISTORY OF PHILANTHROPY

The legacy of giving has defined and improved the human experience for mil-lennia. The word philanthropia came to us from the ancient Greece where it meant the love of mankind. The ancient Greeks considered philanthropy fundamental to democracy. In the ancient civilizations of sub-Saharan Africa, philanthropic prac-tices were built into early social and belief structures, and kindness to others was considered of paramount value for the status of individuals and institutions.

The sacred texts of Judaism, Christianity and Islam called upon the believers to care for those in need. The beliefs that underlay many of these ancient practices were established in the 12th century “Golden Ladder of Charity” in the Mishneh Torah. Its author, the rabbi and philosopher Moses Maimonides, shaped notions of giving for centuries to come. In that hierarchy, giving unwillingly was at the bot-tom of the ladder, while giving anonymously to an unknown recipient and giving to enable the recipient’s self-reliance were situated at the top.

Further to the east, Hindu scriptures considered giving an imperative duty, as well as the Chinese classical thought, which highly praised the benevolence. And although philanthropy today is defined as the practice of organized and systematic giving to improve the quality of human life through the promotion of welfare and social change, in every age, the power of giving was the driving force that created powerful, meaningful change.

With the late 20th century growth of the non-profit sector, it established itself as the third sector in recognition of its function, outside the government and for-profit businesses. And as the National Philanthropic Trust further notes, this change cre-ated the Independent Sector “an umbrella leadership network that unites, pro-motes, and advocates for nonprofits, foundations, and corporations engaged in philanthropy”. (http://www.historyofgiving.org).

Philanthropy today is more globally organized, more measurable and profes-sional. Giving has flourished with technological revolution. Philanthropists today are finding new ways to reach people in need and, in digital environment, donors

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are more efficiently empowering people in need to act and speak out for them-selves. And everyone is getting involved: individuals volunteer and make dona-tions for pressing issues, corporations, neighborhood organizations are working together to make a better world in local, but also global networks.

The man who modelled the practice of giving by moguls in the 19th century is one of history’s pioneering philanthropists George Peabody. He gave rise to the likes of JP Morgan and other massive banking institutions and is said to have gifted $9 million of his over $16 million fortune throughout his lifetime. (https://qz.com). Here are some milestone moments in the history of giving accord-ing to the document National Philanthropic Trust: 1979 George Soros Establishes the Open Society Fund. `Hungarian-born

business magnate George Soros (b. 1930) establishes the Open Society Fund. Acutely aware of the harshness of totalitarian regimes, Soros’ fund creates a network of foundations, partners and projects around the world to promote liberty and openness. His work has ranged from giving scholarships to South Africans during the apartheid to helping the Roma people of Eastern Europe escape persecution. For his efforts, Soros has been credited as a “one-man Marshall Plan” for Eastern Europe.

1976 U.S. Congress Passes Lobbying Bill. The U.S. Congress passes a bill, supported by the Coalition of Concerned Charities, which allows public charities to spend up to $1 million per year on lobbying efforts. The bill gives voluntary associations a greater voice in the government.

1991 Legislation Gives Rise to Nonprofits in Italy. Legislation has long shaped philanthropy, especially in the 20th century when tax reform sparks immense growth in the non-profit sector. In Italy, new laws in the 1990s create a dramatic shift, encouraging many for-profit charitable organiza-tions to become nonprofits. For instance, Compagnia di San Paolo, a Catho-lic brotherhood with a rich history of service starting in the 16th century, cuts its ties with privatized banking and engages in purely philanthropic pursuits. The Compagnia demonstrates that while the philanthropic im-pulse is natural and human, legislation ensures large-scale, economically viable giving.

1999 Bill and Melinda Gates Establish Foundation. Committed to global health and education access, Microsoft founder Bill Gates (b. 1955) and his wife Melinda (b. 1964) form a philanthropic foundation that, with the help of generous donations from Warren Buffett (b. 1930), becomes the largest in the world. By 2003, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation provides 99% of all public libraries in America with Internet service, and in 2010 it pledges $10 billion to help develop vaccines for the world’s poorest countries, two ex-amples of the many major initiatives undertaken within its first decade of service.

2003 Wikimedia Foundation Supports Wikipedia. Committed to freely ac-cessible knowledge, Jimmy Wales (b. 1966) forms the Wikimedia Founda-

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tion to support his website Wikipedia, the world’s largest online encyclo-pedia. The foundation creates and empowers a global volunteer network that collects and develops Wikipedia entries. In the course of a decade, vol-unteers author over 33 million articles in over 280 different languages.

2010 Billionaires Take Giving Pledge. Alongside Bill (b. 1955) and Melinda Gates (b. 1964), billionaire business magnate Warren Buffett (b. 1930), who famously pledged to give away 99 percent of his personal fortune, an-nounces the Giving Pledge campaign, which encourages the wealthiest in-dividuals and families in the world to pledge a majority of their fortunes to philanthropy. Over 125 pledges are made by 2014.

2015. Mark Zuckerberg Announces Major Giving Pledge (US). On Decem-ber 1, 2015, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg (b. 1984) and his wife Priscilla Chan (b. 1985) celebrate Giving Tuesday by announcing that they will give away 99% of their Facebook shares, then valued at $45 billion, in the course of their lifetimes. Rather than creating their own foundation, Zuckerberg and Chan propose to make donations to other organizations, giving them the flexibility to contribute to a variety of well-established philanthropic projects. Their pledge signals the emergence of a new generation of philan-thropists, as young entrepreneurs look to make an impact early on in their careers.

3. MODERN PHILANTHROPY, AND LEADERSHIP

When we talk about philanthropy today, we do not talk about adding values to the businesses and governments. We talk about developing shared models of growth that can be the only long-term way to sustainability and economic and so-cial prosperity. That is why it is hard to be a leader today without being a philan-thropist. You can change the world in a moment by a business idea or by being a skillful politician. But that has limits, it ends with the next political and business cycle that creates new stars and a new season of leaders. In order to make a real change that matters, you have to get involved. You have to invest your skills, ideas and best practices to tackle issues local and global that are important to peo-ple. You need to empower others in order to empower your businesses or political platforms. Not just by example, but by being involved and employing what you know and what you have in order to make others know and have. So, leadership is about philanthropy. But, also, philanthropy is about leadership. Foundations that make the biggest impact in the 21st century are those that use a business approach to solve social issues. They expand the best practices, knowledge and innovations from the commercial into not-for-profit world. And this way, they make it possible for philanthropy to become more efficient and to make a larger impact.

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3.1 Rethink how change happens: Silicon Valley elite, the top philanthropist reshaping the giving

According to the Linsday (2017), top 50 philanthropists in 2016 in the USA to-gether gave roughly $5.6 billion to various causes, and in 2017, the top 10 givers alone almost doubled that sum, sharing $10.2 billion overall to various organiza-tions.

And modern Silicon Valley success stories power couples like Bill and Melinda Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan, and Michael and Susan Dell are top donors, who dropped a cool $7.5 billion overall.

“While previous generations used to just “write a big check” to major institu-tions like hospitals or colleges and “set out a few priorities for where the money might do the most good, living donors - especially tech entrepreneurs - are chan-neling a lot of their gifts to their own foundations and getting directly involved in setting the priorities and strategy for where the money is going,” says Stacy Palmer, the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s editor in chief (www.fastcompany.com).

Bill and Melinda gave $4.9 billion to the Gates Foundation, which tackles ex-treme poverty through global development and health initiatives, and also the U.S. educational reform. Mark and Priscilla gifted $1.9 billion to the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, a limited liability company centered on two principles: “advancing hu-man potential and promoting equal opportunity” for people around the world. Meanwhile, Michael and Susan donated $1 billion to the Dell Foundation, which primarily aids children suffering from urban poverty (www.fastcompany.com).

“Donors like Gates, Zuckerberg-Chan, and Dell have ambitious plans to also re-think how change happens through their philanthropy,” adds Palmer. “They are frustrated that in a century or more of philanthropy we aren’t making more pro-gress in tackling the biggest challenges of the day. They made their fortunes when they were much younger than the old-style philanthropists and started their phi-lanthropy at an earlier age - not waiting for retirement as the older generation tended to” (Palmer, p. 12).

3.2 Giving today

The ways in which giving is approached is transformed by trends such as inter-dependence, access to information and globalization, which already have an im-pact.

Access to information about nonprofits and technological advances drive the change in how donors give as well as expectations from their giving. Philanthropy has become more results-oriented, and as a result, there is an increasing number of nonprofits that produce their own impact data and the growing popularity of on-line reporting and ratings through nonprofit measurement websites such as Char-ity Navigator and GuideStar. The trends shaping donors are shown on Figure 1.

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Figure 1. The Trends shaping donor giving

Source: author, There are also more options for how and where to give. A variety of challenges

needs to be addressed by the society in the future, with healthcare, hunger, the en-vironment and education concerns at the top of the priority list.

The complexity of the modern philanthropic landscape also involves more in-formation, more options for giving and more actors in the mix. And with the emerging generation, there is a rise in collaborative giving and new forms of gen-erating change, such as impact investing and social enterprises.

Donors prioritize addressing domestic issues. Although awareness of global is-suesbincreasingly influences everyday lives, most donors believe that solving do-mestic issues is most crucial, while more than one-third place equal priority on challenges at home and abroad (see Figure 2).

Thinking big and wanting to change the world has its challenges. Soros’s Open Society Foundations and the Clinton Foundation with its CGI

where author of this paper participated, are good examples that being a charity powerhouse might be seen as not only a philanthropic effort to make the world a better place, but also as a political force.

The line is very blurry indeed. Because politics is (or at least it should be) about changing the world too, but very often it is just a power game. So, influencing the social change and advocating for values might be seen, very often, as a treat to the standing order and those holding or aspiring to hold the political power.

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Figure 2. Donors prioritize addressing domestic issues

Source: Report from Fidelity Charitable, adjusted

4. CHALLENGES OF MODERN PHILANTHROPY

The last election in the USA and the Clinton Foundation controversy in that context, as well as the accusations in the Balkans about the political agenda of So-ros’s Open Society Foundations are good examples of this.

Again, it is about leadership because big powers have to be political, even with-out a political agenda. It is a fact that has to be a part of the calculation if one as-pires to invest in the better world. That investment will certainly have long-term benefits, but it will not be so easy to do. The top two leaders in investing in better world are The Clinton Foundation, and Soros’s Open Society Foundations.

The Clinton Foundation. Established by the former U.S. president in Septem-ber 2005, to coincide with the annual opening of the U.N. According to Conason “General Assembly, CGI drew heads of state, corporate leaders, nonprofit execu-tives and assorted celebrities who wanted to act as well as talk about major world problems, including poverty, disease, conflict and climate change. What distin-guished CGI from the beginning was Bill Clinton’s insistence that every participant make a “commitment to action.” Over 12 years, CGI commitments grew into “ac-tion networks” that brought together companies, nonprofits and governments in thousands of projects.”

It stated that “During its 12 years of operation, CGI members made more than 3,600 commitments in over 180 countries, valued at many billions of dollars, which are said to have “improved the lives of over 435 million people,” in a wide variety of ways, from better education for 52 million children to safe drinking water for 33 million people and better maternity and early childhood support for 114 million families, invested billions of dollars in small businesses, housing development, healthcare and energy efficiency, creating up to 4 million “clean jobs” around the world.”

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Partnerships that paired a nonprofit with a corporation were the most produc-tive. For example, Procter & Gamble’s work providing billions of gallons of clean water to communities in the developing world through charities like World Vision and ChildFund. “To Clinton, these partnerships and networks, often including na-tional or local government agencies, epitomized his own political philosophy: Eve-ryone counts, everyone deserves a chance, everyone has a role to play, and we all do better when we work together.” (www.wired.com).

The Clinton Health Access Initiative lanced in 2012 has provided low-cost AIDS medication to 11.5 million people. Many others initiative from healthcare initiatives to education projects to data collection efforts has been launched, and most of them completed.

Soros’s Open Society Foundations. The financier George Soros made one of the world’s largest foundation. He has transferred about $18bn to his human rights foundation. His foundation is the third largest charitable foundation in the world.

Open Society has been devoted to building “vibrant and tolerant democracies” and has given away nearly $14bn since it was founded in 1979.

5. REINVENTING PHILANTHROPY - LEADERSHIP TODAY It is about sharing leadership is more and more about navigating the powerless

world than about keeping the power. Accumulating more power is not enough anymore. No one is too big to fail in the age where disruption is the norm and change is the constant. Sustainability is ever harder to achieve, it is more evasive than ever.

No single player, be it a state or a business, can achieve sustainability and pros-perity on their own. Sharing has become a must-have strategy. It is not only a mat-ter of ethics in the business world and the society, it is the only sustainable way to prosperity. The concept of shared values was developed by the Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter who recognized the pressing need for reinventing capitalism to the new, more sustainable and prosperous model.

Porter emphases that “the capitalist system is under siege. In recent years busi-ness has been criticized as a major cause of social, environmental, and economic problems. Companies are widely thought to be prospering at the expense of their communities. Trust in business has fallen to new lows, leading government offi-cials to set policies that undermine competitiveness and sap economic growth. Business is caught in a vicious circle.” (Porter, p. 44)

Today, the tyranny of short term, and money is dominant, and narrow ap-proach to value creation. Focused on optimizing short-term financial performance, companies ignore the well-being of their customers, the depletion of natural re-sources vital to their businesses, the viability of suppliers, and the economic dis-tress of the communities in which they produce and sell?

“It doesn’t have to be this way”, say Porter, and Kramer (Porter, p. 23). They stated that companies could bring business and society back together if they rede-

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fined their purpose as creating “shared value” - generating economic value in a way that also produces value for society by addressing its challenges. A shared value approach reconnects company success with social progress. A number com-panies do this on different ways, such as GE, Wal-Mart, Nestlé, Johnson & John-son, and Unilever. They do tihis by reconceiving products and markets, or redefin-ing productivity in the value chain, or building supportive industry clusters at the company’s locations. Nestlé, for example, redesigned its coffee procurement proc-esses, provided advice on farming practices; helped growers secure plant stock, fertilizers, and pesticides; and began directly paying them a premium for better beans. Higher yields and quality increased the growers’ incomes, the environ-mental impact of farms shrank, and Nestlé’s reliable supply of good coffee grew significantly. Shared value was created.

Capitalism and its relationship to society could be reshape by shared value. Collaboration and partnerships across sectors will become increasingly important. The idea of cross-sector collaboration, with a wide range of agents helping drive change to the new relations in society, allow broadened the view of philanthropic activities today. The philanthropic sector is becoming part of the efforts to to suc-cessfully develop solutions to the society’s challenges in the future.

Public-private partnerships are more and more seen as almost equally likely to create solutions as nonprofits. Reflecting the growing interest in collaboration be-tween sectors, partnerships have gained popularity and strength. They include: businesses’ corporate social responsibility efforts; universities housing social change incubators and supporting careers for the social good; government-funded efforts such as social impact bonds. As an added value to all above, non-traditional groups are the growing power of involvement in the social sector. Expectation for sectors has been growing. Table 2 clearly shows that trend in USA.

Table 2. Expectation that all sectors will help solve society’s challenges.

Sectors Expectation / Millennials

Expectation /Baby Boomers

Nonprofit organizations 47% 39% Public-private partnerships 42% 37% Individuals or groups of individuals 41% 34% Universities and schools 40% 23% Social enterprises 38% 22% Religious institutions 33% 33% Businesses 32% 25%

Governments 27% 18%

Source: The Future of Philanthropy report from Fidelity Charitable®

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5. CONCLUSION So, what does the changing philanthropic landscape mean, the development of

new social norms, the rise of collaborative giving, the discussion on philanthropy, its results and impact?

All this means that we should not be concerned about the future of philan-thropy. It is changing, its definition is expanding and that will strengthen its im-pact, making it more relevant and more influential than ever before. And although we have new definitions of giving, the role and importance of charitable giving will not diminish. Individual giving is part of our society’s fabric. In the future, we may see fewer individual donors who simply donate to a nonprofit, but instead, we will see more types of engagement with a variety of organizations that want to do good. As the younger generations take on a greater role in society, they will continue to impact the way we give and our views on what constitutes giving itself may change.

What unites all these philanthropic powerhouses is using and focusing on posi-tive aspects of interdependence. Both in the aspect of nations and states, but also interdependence between the corporate and public sectors. Only by working to-gether can we really tackle the problems facing the world today and make the change that will lead to more prosperity for all.

A leader and a philanthropist is the one who invests her/his best skills, creativ-ity and business and professional platforms in order to create more synergy. Syn-ergies that generate shared values are the pillars of society and the future to come.

Being a leader is about learning to be together, to share, to grow together. It is not about being on top anymore, but rather about being on the bottom, being the foundation of something bigger than yourself, your business, even your time.

Still, we have to be aware of the challenges, too. Philanthropy can easily be used as a cover for political or ideologically suspi-

cious agenda. At the same time, philanthropic activities empowering social changes and de-

mocracy might be under false accusation of having a political agenda. It might be suspected of intending to create a new world order, the shadow of government, to run the world and ultimately want to abolish the sovereignty of nations and estab-lish one world government, and not to do it in a transparent way and not in the interest of all, but of the chosen elite.

Be it the Trilateral Commission, Clinton Global Initiative, Soros Open Society Foundations, The Rockefeller Foundation – it always depends on who you ask. For some, they are one of the best things happening in the world, for others, the worst.

To tell the difference might also very often depend on the point of view, be-cause giving for impact will always be about the change as well, and the change always challenges status quo.

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