The concept of newness in giving vehicles and tools has been dominated by northern habits of thought and experience in philanthropy
In May, the African Grantmakers’ Affinity Group (AGAG) meeting in New York conducted an exercise to ascertain whether participants understood the concept of a ‘philanthropy adviser’, and whether or not they had connected with one in their home countries, community or work. Under this heading were included the so-called new vehicles and tools like donor advised funds (DAFs), family offices and limited liability companies (LLCs). The exercise showed that only 24 per cent of participants were familiar with the concept. However, as the conversation progressed, two things became clear. First, that many in the room actually operated as philanthropy advisers but are not formally recognised as such. Second, that what is formally named and recognised in developed markets remains informal in developing countries for the most part. That doesn’t mean they aren’t there. As one of the participants noted, ‘philanthropists can give in any format they wish to, from their pockets or through foundations, family offices or new vehicles such as DAFs but what is more important is the research that needs to be conducted to ascertain the appropriate vehicle’ and ‘to know how local giving looks.’
Context matters. Credit: Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 4.0
For me, the above exercise and the conversations provided an appropriate lens through which to view the different articles in this June special feature of Alliance. Speaking to the RS Group’s founder Annie Chen and managing director Ronie Mak drove home the point that context matters. For instance, while social impact bonds are blossoming in some regions including in South Africa, in Hong Kong so far the approach has not been adopted. This is because it does not resonate with the current context. Blended finance, however, is a vehicle that is currently used by the RS Group in their exploration of new ways of undertaking social investing by using a ‘total portfolio approach’, and by other donors in Hong Kong. Context therefore does matter. In his introduction to this special feature, Andrew Milner writes eloquently about this when he discusses the idea of relativity in understanding ‘newness’. What does ‘new’ refer to when we talk about new vehicles and tools of giving? What is a long tradition of practice in one place can be a novelty in another. Equally, change varies in speed and scope. Certain regions adopt change faster than others. At times what happens at a local level has implications for what happens at a global level and vice versa. It is useful to think of newness and its adaptation or adoption in terms of theoretical frames of variable geometry (gradualism) and subsidiarity.
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