Every year, members and partners of the Global Philanthropists Circle (GPC) convene in New York City to discuss lessons learned in philanthropy and urgent global issues. Over 80 leaders from the for-profit and non-profit sectors came together for the 2016 annual meeting. GPC members shared on lessons learned, their work in philanthropy, and personal perspectives. Leaders and established experts affiliated with Synergos also gave talks on issues impacting the world today.
The one-day meeting focused on integration and a holistic approach in philanthropy. Global problems currently being faced require people from all different sectors to come together-the GPC annual meeting created opportunities for networking, talks, and topic discussions to facilitate these cross-sectoral collaborations.Critically relevant topics were discussed via breakout groups, covering impact investing, empowerment of local communities, sustainable agriculture, and refugee migration.
Central Takeaways
- Integration and a holistic approach are key. As Synergos founder Peggy Dulany and GPC member Hadeel Ibrahim (see talk) both stated, changemakers can no longer afford to be siloed into specific ways of thinking. Intersectionality is everywhere; for example, to address the refugee crisis, one also needs to acknowledge the role climate change plays.
- Understanding the big picture is key. CNN correspondent Fareed Zakaria (see talk) and GPC member Irene Pritzker (see talk) of IDP Foundation both discussed the importance of understanding history, culture, and context for their work.
- Inclusive partnerships and collaborations are critical to effective philanthropic work. Bringing in outside collaborations and involving local communities will contribute to creating more impactful solutions.
- There is room for innovation everywhere, with the markets playing a significant role. Chobani CEO Hamdi Ulukaya talks about innovating in refugee camps (see talk). Pulitzer Prize winner Sheryl WuDunn shares on corporate investments that lead to increased social returns (see talk).
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Talk Summaries
In Conversation with Sheryl WuDunn, author of Half the Sky and A Path Appears: Transforming Lives, Creating Opportunity and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist
Interviewed by GPC member Mayra Hernández, Sheryl WuDunn discusses the evolving spectrum of effective impact investing opportunities and philanthropy.
Video - password available to members upon request
“I think it’s really important to focus on outcomes rather than inputs. For many years the charity world has focused more on inputs: how many bags of rice you send, how many bed nets you send, rather than outcomes: Was the rice eaten by the people who need it, was it nutritious for them? Were the bed nets used by the people who they were sent to and did they prevent malaria? We’re really focused on outcomes, which led people to realize that some of the bed nets are actually being misused.”?
“Don’t take your thinking cap that you use in your financial world when you’re turning toward your world of philanthropy because it’s really important to figure out what is effective, what’s really having impact on people. I don’t know that that’s necessarily going on as much as it could. Whether it’s called impact investing or whether it’s called conscious capitalism, it’s not so much about the terminology as it is about just focusing on outcomes, and really trying to be mindful that there is an unlucky half that we should really care about.”?
In Conversation with Hamdi Ulukaya, Founder and CEO of Chobani, and Founder of Tent Foundation
Hamdi Ulukaya discusses his life influences, what got him involved in philanthropy, and his work with the Tent Alliance supporting the Syrian refugee crisis.
Video - password available to members upon request
“One of the earliest memories I have is, your wealth in town is your sheep. So if you lose that then you lose your source of income. And a barn was burned down one winter and one guy lost all of his sheep, like 500 of them. It couldn’t be any worse. And then the next day everybody in the community brought one of their best sheep and the next day he has 600. So that is the sense of security in the community that if something happens to somebody, if you give one sheep you’re not going lose a lot, but if everybody gives one sheep then the one who lost it will have it. These are the traditions of societies that take care of each other. It doesn’t matter the magnitude of how much you give, it is the act of giving. My mother didn’t give a lot because we didn’t have a lot but it doesn’t matter how many billions I could give out I could never come close to how she gave because the act of giving is not how much that’s important, but how, because in every giving something happens. You either break or you raise. You either disrupt or inspire, then something happens.”?
“The more I learned, I couldn’t believe the amount of people who are displaced and the amount of people are living in the refugee camps, you know, 16, 17, 18 years, and the conditions in these camps. And I spent quite a bit of time trying to understand what is happening, the conditions, what I can do, and which way I can get involved The Tent Alliance can bring companies to come and join in this safe place that’s highly politicized, highly divided, but can we go above this and meet in the humane level and the business and brands feel safe that we can go in and be effective So we’re working very, very hard to make that platform happen and bring more businesses into this alliance.”?
“One thing that I have to tell you is it is so bad and so big and if you look at the magnitude of it you sometimes say, ”?Can this really be fixed?’ But if you come back to the entrepreneur getting this stuff done, you look at it and you say, ”?Look, we have enough money. You have resources, a brain, and there’s enough good people in the world and this can change.’ And let’s think about if we don’t do anything, what happens? People are not going remember how tall is the building you built or how you brought the snow to the desert. They’re going to remember, what did you do when people were in need, and dying, and suffering? What did you really do to them right there when you have the money and you didn’t use it?”?
Talk by Fareed Zakaria, Host of CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS and international best-selling author
Fareed Zakaria discusses the major forces and trends at work in the world today, including the continued rise and deepening of globalization.
Video - password available to members upon request
“People are re-identifying themselves in sectarian ways rather than national ways That is what we are living with right now, which is the reality that while the economy might do all right, it is not producing the kind of jobs that it was producing in the past, and what that is doing in the developed world is producing a rise of protectionism, of populism, of racism, of xenophobia. These are very complicated forces and it’s much easier to explain them by saying, ”?You know why you’re doing terribly? It’s because of those Mexicans, the Chinese, the Japanese, and Muslims,’ right? And this is not just happening in the United States. It’s happening in country after country.”?
“The idea that some government 6,000 miles away, even Washington with all its wisdom, will be able to figure out what’s going on, who the good guys are, pick them, make sure that they win and make sure that they stay good guys after they win is a very tall order. You should confront these situations with a great deal of humility and recognition that it is a very fluid situation.”?
Insights Talks
Insights Talks provide an opportunity for GPC members to share their personal stories, insights, and perspectives from their work with the rest of the Synergos community. Hadeel Ibrahim talked about her work with the Mo Ibrahim Foundation and the need for integrated, multi-issue approaches to the Syrian refugee crisis and other global challenges. Ben Goldhirsh shared about his journey in understanding his personal and professional purpose. Irene Pritzker discussed her work with the IDP Foundation, which uses philanthropy as a means to support sustainable investment in educational and social impact initiatives.
Hadeel Ibrahim- Video
“We can no longer be single-issue specialists. We can no longer say, ”?I do development.’ No. We have three interlocking global crises. We have a development crisis, an environmental crisis, and a humanitarian crisis.”?
“Most of us now, as much as we try to influence outcomes on the ground we try to influence public policy. But let’s think for a minute. A group of people with disproportionate means trying to influence public policy according to what they think is right, I would ask questions. If I was a journalist I would interrogate that.”?
Ben Goldhirsh - Video
“I think it’s important as I think about the next chapter, and I think about this in philanthropy as well, is it’s one thing to be good at building boats. It’s another thing to be good at choosing rivers. And I think sometimes like the craftsman you can really focus on the boat building, which is super important. But it’s like I launched a magazine boat. What a hard voyage that’s been And so I think about how that applies to philanthropy, and I think about the investments we’ve made on that front, the grants and the for-profit investments. Half of it’s the boat builder but the other half’s the river. And so I think that navigation’s super important.”?
Irene Pritzker - Video
“Now that program is scaling, we’re on target to have reached 580 schools by next July, and there’ll be over 150,000 children who otherwise would have no alternative for education We’re just going to keep writing about it. We’re just going to keep expanding. We’re just going to keep trying to improve the model and we just will keep on advocating for policy change.”?