Conference to Explore Innovative Strategies for Philanthropy

New Haven, Conn., November 30, 2009 — On Friday, December 4, 2009, the Yale School of Management will host its 5th annual philanthropy conference, "The Future of Philanthropy: Harnessing Resources and Leveraging Strengths," a diverse gathering of national leaders in the philanthropic sector, academic experts, future business leaders, and local grant-making professionals.

This full-day conference will explore emerging trends in grant-making, including cross-sector collaborations, social investment strategies, and innovative philanthropic frameworks. The philanthropic sector has more diverse resources and expertise at its disposal than ever before to catalyze social change. While philanthropic organizations have typically pursued their missions through a traditional grant-making framework, innovators in the sector have begun to emphasize more visionary models dedicated to developing long-term, scalable solutions.

Gara LaMarche, President and CEO of The Atlantic Philanthropies, will deliver the keynote address. The Atlantic Philanthropies, true to the "giving while living" philosophy of founder Chuck Feeney, has distributed over $4 billion since 1982 and intends to complete active grant-making and spend down its remaining assets by 2017.

Matthew Bishop, American Business Editor and New York Bureau Chief of the Economist, will open the conference with a welcoming address on the business of philanthropy. Mr. Bishop is the co-author of Philanthrocapitalism and an expert voice on the critical role that innovative philanthropists play in identifying and developing sustainable solutions to the world’s most pressing social problems.

The conference’s three panel discussions will feature a total of fifteen dynamic speakers representing different perspectives within the sector. This diverse line-up — including Melissa Berman, President and CEO of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, Jeffrey Heil, Chief Investment Officer of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and Franck Wiebe, Chief Economist of the Millennium Challenge Corporation — will share their best practices and experiential insight, engaging conference attendees in a dialogue on the future of philanthropy.

With so many diverse organizations pursuing overlapping social ends, it is a constant challenge to forge successful and sustainable partnerships in the nonprofit sector. The Leveraging Resources across Sectors panel will bring together leading thinkers from the public, private, nonprofit, and philanthropic sectors, with a focus on challenges and opportunities in international development. As organizations evaluate their effectiveness in bringing about social change, new grant-making strategies are designed to better harness endowment resources, programmatic assets, and social capital. The Alternative Investment Strategies panel will explore innovative approaches that move beyond the traditional grant-making model, such as socially-responsible investing, mission-related investing, program-related investing, and shareholder advocacy. The culminating panel, Frameworks for Strategic Philanthropy, will ask visionary leaders in the sector to discuss their organizations’ approaches to high-impact philanthropy. Topics will include ‘spend-down’ foundations, core operating support versus targeted grant-making, and the management of grantee relationships.

For more information and registration, please visit the conference website.