Do One Better with Alberto Lidji in Philanthropy, Sustainability and Social Entrepreneurship

Sandro notes that the world is experiencing breakthrough scientific discoveries at unprecedented pace. He asks: if we can anticipate these emerging technologies, can we then unlock their potential to improve our world for the benefit of society?

GESDA was started by the Swiss government, who provided approximately 50% of the initial funding; this was matched by philanthropy.  The organisation is now an independent foundation.

GESDA aims to bring in key multilateral stakeholders, mixing science and diplomacy, to anticipate what future technologies could look like.  Information technology, quantum computing, bio-inspired computing, artificial intelligence, human augmentation, eco-regeneration – what will be the impact of these technologies for the future of humanity and our planet?

GESDA has reached out to the best researchers on these topics and has created an academic forum; essentially, they’re identifying some of the world’s best researchers who are in their labs developing the future right now, today.

Key questions at GESDA: 1) Who are we, what does it mean to be human; 2) How are we going to live together, what technologies can reduce inequality; 3) How can we ensure the wellbeing of humanity and a sustainable planet?

Sandro explains how he will be looking at creating an impact fund focused on enabling the development and testing of these technologies and solutions. He will be developing key alliances with the right partners in philanthropy, the corporate world and beyond.

Sandro’s key takeaway: Ask the question about anticipation and embrace it. What is science able to do in 5 to 10 years and how are we now anticipating solutions.  Anticipatory thinking can be quite transformative. He invites everyone to ask what can an anticipatory approach bring to the work one is doing.

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Vodafone Group is one of the world’s leading telecoms and technology service providers – covering such things as connectivity, convergence and the internet of things. They also have strong expertise in mobile financial services and digital transformation in emerging markets. They mainly operate in Europe and Africa, with mobile operations in 24 countries.

Dorothée explains how the role of the sector in society is crucial. The nature of the products and services they’re involved with means they have the potential to leverage digitisation to enable the speed and scale needed to deliver the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

At Vodafone, their drive is about connecting for a better future; it’s about building a digital society that leaves no one behind and protects the planet.

We explore what it takes to embed a sustainability mindset within the organisation. Dorothée notes that it’s very helpful that, at Vodafone, sustainability is a CEO-led agenda and it can be found throughout the whole organisation, including in functions such as Vodafone procurement, Vodafone business, brand and commercial.

Dorotheée’s key takeaway for those working in sustainability within a corporate environment is (1) Purpose: really finding that genuine articulation of why you exist as a company; and if that exercise hasn’t been done yet, try to make that exercise happen at the highest level; and (2) Pace: the window to avoid a climate catastrophe is closing. There’s a drive and energy and a passion to go very fast and go where we need to go. But sometimes this doesn’t work in a big organisation, and sometimes you need to take a step back and bring the organisation along. 

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IKEA was founded in Sweden, in 1943, by Ingvar Kamprad, whose vision was to improve everyday life for the many.  The IKEA Foundation is independent from the retail business with a sole focus on creating brighter lives on a liveable planet through philanthropy and grant-making

They work to create more family wealth; to enable families to afford a better life. When families have a sustainable income they will invest it in their children’s health and education. They also focus on protecting the planet and reducing greenhouse gas emissions because if nothing is done urgently there won’t be a planet for the children they’d like to help.

They support work around five themes: 1) Employment and entrepreneurship; 2) Regenerative Agriculture; 3) Climate Action; 4) Renewable Energy; and 5) Special Initiatives and Emergency Response.

Per delves into the huge challenges posed by COVID-19 and notes that for many of the people they help, the medical side of COVID-19 hasn’t been as much of an issue as have been the economic challenges presented by this pandemic; challenges in being unable to work and feed their families.  Despite the challenges, this pandemic presents opportunities to accelerate development, to think outside the box and to take risks.

The IKEA Foundation has 130 partners and 185 active programmes around the world. Per explains how challenging it has been for the Foundation to engage with these 130 partners as the pandemic struck and many of them required additional funding and flexibility to survive.

Per also sheds light on the work being done by the Foundation to help refugees and invest resources towards building lives for refugees and helping them become self-reliant.

Working closely with IKEA business – they look at how refugees can get a start by having a 6-month internship with IKEA and then be able to apply for  job at IKEA. This has the power to change a person’s starting point in their new environment.

Per gives insight into his personal career trajectory, coming originally from the private sector. He explains how he faced a steep learning curve coming into philanthropy from the private sector and faced scepticism from those who view business as something bad.

Encouragingly though, this sentiment has evolved a lot over the past decade and now NGOs and philanthropies see business and the private sector as an important player in trying to drive forward the big global agendas such as climate change.

Per’s key takeaway: We have very limited time left to preserve the planet and ensure the world lives within the planetary borders and does whatever it can to reduce greenhouse gases, because without that almost everything else becomes secondary.

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Cynthia will be hosting the 'National Prenatal-to-3 Research to Policy Summit' on 15th September 2020. A virtual event open to everyone which will feature Prof Jack Shonkoff of Harvard’s Center on the Developing Child, Gov DeWine of Ohio, Gov Lujan Grisham of New Mexico and various other experts and policymakers.

The Summit is presented by the Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center at The University of Texas at Austin LBJ School of Public Affairs. 

During the podcast, we hear how early childhood is a period of incredible importance. It is the time when brain development is happening most rapidly.  Cynthia notes how children who are exposed to early adversity have higher rates of lung disease, heart disease, cancer and they engage in more risky behaviour – the earlier years really do shape the development of our brains and our body’s systems.  In the USA, children who are exposed to extreme adversity early in life have a life expectancy that is 20 years shorter than children who are exposed to very limited adversity.

We also hear Cynthia’s insight on the most effective policies that states can implement now and how different states in the USA compare to each other.

Cynthia’s key takeaway: She wants folks to understand just how important these first three years are, and to understand that we can actually do something to make it so that kids get off to the healthy start they deserve. Policies do represent the choices and the priorities that we have, and if we prioritise the fact that children deserve this healthy start then we know some of the answers for how to make that happen.

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Jeffrey is a Washington DC-based philanthropist who’s been practising Transcendental Meditation (TM) for more than 40 years and he’s a Co-Founder of the Rona and Jeffrey Abramson Foundation.

He started thinking about improving the world when he was just 8 years old. He knew he wanted to end suffering and he wanted the solution to be one thing that could be given to people everywhere to change their circumstances, so they were the ones who lifted themselves up, and it needed to make them self-sufficient; not dependent on others. 

Many years later, when Jeffrey was 20 years old, he learned TM and experienced the benefits from meditating. He realised that maybe TM was the one gift that could deeply effect and empower everyone. 

A key goal of his philanthropy is to expand the research into TM and give people around the world access to their potential; to unleash their drive so they can impact their own lives and their own communities.

Jeffrey sheds light on his experience working with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who launched TM in the 1950s, which he describes as a defining moment in his life; an experience he thinks about often.

Among his various philanthropic activities, Jeffrey is the Chairman of the Board at Maharishi International University (MIU) – he’s been on the Board for 20 years. He’s very proud of this and he notes how MIU develops the whole person and includes TM as part of the curriculum.

A few years back, Jeffrey’s Foundation agreed to a multi-year pledge to the David Lynch Foundation – a foundation committed to ensuring that every child anywhere in the world who wants to learn to meditate is able to do so. Jeffrey sheds light on a specific community project in Washington DC called The Ark that brings TM to marginalised segments of the local community.

Jeffrey also explains how he aligns business with philanthropy and how TM is integral to his company’s success and operations.

Jeffrey’s key takeaway: He notes that solutions exist for the global issues we’ve discussed. They just need to be implemented by people who care. Change is possible and it always starts with one person. And, Jeffrey has found that for real systemic change to happen it must begin first within each of us. It’s important to reflect on where real sustainable passion comes from. It comes from the fullness of an ever-flowing free heart and soul. Every act counts. There’s always a domino effect to the people you touch with simple generosity and kindness. Do something that drives you, that fills your heart. It doesn’t need to be complicated. Plant a tree; meditate; donate; volunteer. It’s simple. Help put proven solutions to work; make a difference and trust in your goodness.

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Practical Action is an innovative international development organisation; their Patron is Prince Charles, HRH The Prince of Wales, and they partner with diverse organisations including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the IKEA Foundation and DFID – the UK’s Department for International Development.

The organisation is comprised of various entities, which include a charity running projects internationally, a publishing company and a consulting company as well – together they work hard to find ingenious solutions, capture and share learnings, and to bring about big change.

Practical Action works in about 12 countries at any one time. In total they have 600 staff and partner with many organisations. Their operating budget for charitable actives is about £30m annually.

They’re a very practical organisation and focus on farming that works; energy that transforms people’s lives; helping to build resilience; and making urban centres safer places for people to live in – particularly looking at water sanitation.

The thrust of the conversation with Paul revolved around Practical Action’s work in Bangladesh (where they have a team of approximately 100 staff) as it pertains to water sanitation.   Paul is a water and sanitation engineer – so he gets very excited about this topic.  He’s not shy to say that in the case of their water sanitation project work in Bangladesh, essentially, “we’re talking about poo”.

They’ve been working with marginalised, urban communities in slum areas in towns and cities around Bangladesh and helping them to improve their living conditions.  Again, in his candid manner, Paul notes that a particular problem is “the problem of shit”.  Many people have access to a latrine, which people use as their toilet – but the challenge they found was that emptying the latrines was a huge problem.

Across the whole of Bangladesh, something along the lines of 80,000 tonnes of human waste is produced every day, and over 90% of it remains untreated.  What happens often is that emptying these latrines becomes the task of informal waste workers, literally emptying pits by hand and disposing of the sludge in open watercourses. We’re talking about something that fills the equivalent of 30 Olympic swimming pools every day.

This poses a terrible health threat to people living in these areas. The total population of Bangladesh is around 160 million people; of which perhaps 40% are living under the poverty level.  Safe sanitation is a matter for the whole population – not just those living in slums.

Practical Action focused on developing a market system for sludge, working across the board with diverse stakeholders, including micro finance outfits, government representatives and foundations.

They tried to answer the question of: How do you get these pits emptied in a safe and reliable way?

Practical Action’s solution turned this activity into a business, in a sustainable way – in partnership with a broad range of actors, developing a workforce and turning sludge into fertiliser.

They worked with municipalities to license operators; they developed an app so city dwellers could order this service and leave feedback for a job well done.  In turn, service providers got decent pay - and so the market works.

Their work started approximately 10 years ago, when they were working with WaterAid.  They could see that while latrine coverage in the country was going up, the problem of sludge was not actually being addressed.  So, they started piloting urban-based sewage treatment systems and things have progressed very well since then.

Paul also sheds light on his career trajectory.  He’s an engineer by background and at the start of his career was working in the construction industry in the UK. In his 20s he took a posting with VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas) to work in Sudan and he found this experience highly stimulating and full of purpose. He learned much and shifted from a traditional career path, from what he classifies as a construction engineer, in order to become a development engineer.

Paul’s key takeaway: It’s all about the team. If you have a motivated team that is ready and willing to work together for a common purpose, then you’re powerful!

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United Way is the world’s largest privately funded non-profit organisation. It is 133 years old, has 3 million volunteers, 8 million donors and operates across 40 countries – including the UK where they’ve had a presence since 2014. Last year it raised around $5 billion.

United Way Worldwide is a social franchise; it owns the brand and sets rules on financial reporting, governance, ethics and inclusivity across 1,800 communities globally.  It also manages relations with the United Nations (UN), the World Economic Forum (WEF), corporates and governments.

Brian sheds light on his background. He formally joined United Way as a trainee back in 1981 and has thoroughly enjoyed the journey.  A word of wisdom he likes to share with folks who are just starting out on their careers is simply ‘be prepared to say yes’ – we’re so wired to say no.  So, just say yes.

Last year United Way generated around $5 billion in income, which is a remarkable sum.  Brian notes the breakdown of this income is roughly split as follows: 15% from corporations (such as IBM, UPS, FedEx, Samsung and IKEA); 35%-40% from the employees of the 65,000 companies they work with (employees who tend to give via payroll); and the other 50% comes from individuals.

United Way has approximately 8 million donors. There are 600 donors who have given $1m+; 40 donors who have given $10m+; and approximately 25,000 donors who are regularly giving $10,000 annually.  The average donor gives $300 per year.  Brian notes that United Way is most effective when it reflects and looks like its community. And, in order for a community to succeed, everyone in that community needs to succeed.

When asked about what success looks like for the next 10 years, Brian responds that, for him, inequality is the biggest issue in the world today.  In 10 years from today the world is going to have to be more equitable, more just and cleaner environmentally. This change will either happen through enlightened political, corporate, and non-profit leadership; or it’s going to happen through social unrest.  He is optimistic about how things will shape up for the next 10 years, although he notes he’s less optimistic about the next 18 months.

On the issue of COVID-19 around the world: Brian observes that it’s the countries with strong public health systems (countries who look after the health of all their citizens) that are doing much better than places like the US.  Likewise for countries where there’s a strong social contract, a commitment to the common good and where people care about each other – these are the countries that are coping better. For him, the pandemic is wildly instructive in terms of what success looks like in the next 10 years; there needs to be a focus on the common good.

There is a great deal of digital transformation and innovation taking place at United Way.  Brian sheds much light on how the organisation has evolved; he provides insight into their traditional business model and how they’re now embracing digital technology to increase efficiency and transparency in their philanthropy.

United Way helps to take the resources in a community and to match these with people in need.  The business model at United Way was to pool your money; United Way will then assess who are the best non-profits out there, and then they’ll give them that money and ensure they’re doing a good job, and then they’ll tell the donors about it.

However, Brian notes that digital technology is now eliminating the middleman in transactions. So, you don’t necessarily need to go through institutions any longer, you can do it individually. So, what United Way has been working towards is how to build this community exchange without individuals having to come to them as a vertical institution.

What United Way has done is build individual donor and volunteer digital profiles. They’re working with Salesforce – building first in workplaces and then beyond – on the ability to build your own profile (what do you care about philanthropically in terms of where you want to give; how you want to volunteer; what you want to advocate) and they’ve taken all of their work in education, income, health, migration etc and they’ve digitised it all. They have also taken all of their impact content and turned it into digital.

They’re putting their donors and volunteers together with this content on one platform so they can interact with each other without necessarily going through United Way.

Brian notes that if United Way is to go from 8 million donors to, say, 18 million donors, they’re going to have to give up some control as an institution and instead create an environment and a technology ecosystem that allows the donor and the volunteer to get directly to the service provider or even the person who needs help – so that United Way facilitates that process instead of managing it.  Fundamentally, it’s about how can United Way help individuals connect directly to what they want to achieve philanthropically.

This digital platform they’ve created with Salesforce is called Philanthropy Cloud; it is now live in around 350 companies in the US and there are around 70,000 people using it.

As the users use Philanthropy Cloud, the tech gets smarter. The Salesforce AI (artificial intelligence) is in the tool itself.  Brian has Philanthropy Cloud installed on his phone; it tracks things for him, it makes recommendations for him to read about certain philanthropic topics, it provides stories and information that are relevant to him. 

The way Brian describes it is: why can’t the philanthropy on his phone be just like his Spotify account?  Why can’t it watch him use the service and then make suggestions to him – so that’s what Philanthropy Cloud is about. That’s what it does.

Brian’s key takeaway for listeners: We need to connect with each other. We’re better together than we are apart; this applies to philanthropy. Let’s be generous; let’s share with each other. If we do this there’s nothing that will stop philanthropy generally, and therefore society.  Brian is increasingly learning that there are so many things he doesn’t know. Appreciating this has allowed him to be freer, to think abut United Way’s work differently; to think about who they might partner with that they wouldn’t have partnered with before.  It’s that old adage: if you hold the bird too tightly in your hand you kill it, and if you open up your hand it flies away; so you have to hold on to these things gently.  United Way now finds its thinking to be much more open.  For those of us in philanthropy – no matter what segment of philanthropy – you have to be open, you have to be willing to learn, you have to be a bit vulnerable and you have to trust more than we trust right now. We have to be open and generous and, if we are, good things will happen!

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Humanity & Inclusion exists to support people with disabilities and vulnerable people who are affected by poverty, conflict, disaster and exclusion to achieve their rights and live in dignity.

They were founded in 1982, initially supporting victims of landmines who were fleeing to Thailand from Cambodia.

Today, Humanity & Inclusion is active in 60 countries.  It is a federated network with members around the world.  They work in partnership with diverse stakeholders – including UNICEF, the WHO and the UK Government – and their work is a combination of advocacy and operations.

Ninety per cent of their staff are local to the countries they work in, so they’re closely embedded at the community level, which then also makes it much easier to identify good local delivery partners.

Aleema notes the importance of their work by highlighting that 1 in 7 people in the world live with a disability, and their problems are exacerbated in settings of crisis and poverty.  Those with disabilities are at increased risk.

Women with disabilities are twice as likely to be a victim of sexual and domestic violence than non-disabled women.  In humanitarian crises people with disability are at an even more increased risk.

Aleema sheds light on her personal trajectory. She has travelled extensively and worked in many countries, including Haiti, South Sudan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.  This global experience drives much of her passion today, even though as CEO of Humanity & Inclusion in the UK she is no longer in the frontlines as much.

Aleema grew up in a philanthropic family but never thought of development work as a career. She trained as a physiotherapist and at some point started to feel something was missing in her career. Then, while working in Bangladesh, something clicked and she realised she wanted to work in development work and make a real difference leveraging her clinical training to train key stakeholders in the frontlines.

Aleema’s key takeaway:  Remember that people with disabilities are the world’s largest minority and all of us have a role to play. Everyone from philanthropists to campaigners, to companies, to foundations and governments – we all have a role to play. Look around you and see what you’re supporting; where are you giving your gifts? Are you giving in a way that ensures that the most marginalised people are impacted?  We all have a role to play to leave no one behind and to achieve the goals of Agenda 2030.

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Plan International is a global charity operating in more than 50 countries. It was established in 1937 and strives to ensure the rights of children and equality for girls.  Several decades ago, it established the ‘sponsor a child’ model, which successfully supports the local communities where these children live.

We hear how Plan International engages with a truly broad and global range of partners, from small, local NGOs, to the likes of the LEGO Foundation, Unilever and AstraZeneca.

Rose grew up in a farm in Northern Ireland – one of five children – and didn’t even know what international development was back then. She grew up in a country that was in conflict, and that had an impact on her. 

Northern Ireland at that time was quite inward looking and Rose could never envision as a child that she’d end up travelling the world and running international development endeavours.  She started off in the private sector but once she ventured into the international development world she never looked back.

Rose admits she’s had good luck during her career. Rose never had a great career plan but she broadly knew the direction she wanted to take and knew she wanted to do something she was passionate about and believed in.  She captured the opportunities as they materialised and now finds it truly humbling being in such a leadership role.

Being in London is certainly a departure from her previous postings in the global south, and she very much misses life in the frontlines.  As a CEO in London, you can get a bit removed from what’s happening in the field, which is why visiting their programmes overseas is so very important – and, now with COVID-19, this means watching the videos that come back from the frontlines.

We hear how working in international development requires one to be an optimist.  However, despite feeling optimistic, Rose is indeed concerned.

The impact of COVID-19 on girls is massive: education, child marriage, infant mortality, gender-based violence – the coronavirus pandemic has wide-ranging, negative implications.

Rose notes there are estimates that by 2030, there will be 13 million more girls who find themselves in early forced marriage because of this pandemic. There is the real risk that COVID-19 will roll back the progress that has been made thus far on gender equality and girls rights.  Therefore, it is important for governments around the world to recognise the vulnerably of girls in crisis.

Rose’s key takeaways: (1) This [pandemic] is a global crisis; while the UK has been terribly impacted, we need to realise we won’t solve this crisis until it’s solved all around the world. We need to focus on our interconnectedness and embrace a global outlook. (2) It is vital to raise awareness of the impact this crisis has on girls. The girls of today are the women of tomorrow. We need to be aware and support the voice of girls, and listen to what they have to say; we need to recognise that in a crisis it is girls who carry a greater burden than boys.

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The Foundation focuses on global, social and environmental concerns, particularly in helping the most disadvantaged.  In 2019, the Oak Foundation made 377 grants, to 342 organisations in 37 countries, totalling around $300m. 

The Foundation backs a wide range of initiatives focused on the environment, housing and homelessness, international human rights, issues affecting women, learning differences, preventing child sexual abuse; and special interest areas such as health, humanitarian relief, education and the arts.  They also have four national programmes in Brazil, Denmark, India and Zimbabwe.

Doug sheds light on the Foundation’s main programme areas and provides insight on their transformative work on the environment and climate justice – aiming to strengthen the ecosystem of climate funding.

We hear of the Climate Leadership Initiative hosted by Climate Works, for instance, where the focus is on helping individual philanthropists identify where they can enter the climate space. For many donors it can be very challenging to ascertain exactly where and how they can get involved in this space – it can be daunting since it’s a very technical and scientific field.

The next campaign they’re very excited about is around food.  Creating a big tent to bring a wide range of voices and stakeholders together, from those concerned with food production and land use to local sourcing and plant-based solutions. There’s a lot of engagement but there hasn’t been a lot of movement on the food side of things. By helping to fund this platform they want to bring people to the conversation, letting them know there are others interested in this space and letting them know there are many examples showing how people can get involved.

Doug talks about how they go about their grant-making and the work they do with different platforms, collaboratives, intermediaries and grantees. They place much effort to ensure their processes are streamlined and not bogged down by red tape. 

Doug joined Oak Foundation in January 2019. In his role as President, he is thrilled to knit together his professional experiences advocating for human rights, humanitarian relief, social development and environmental protection.

Dough was a career diplomat; he held various roles including that of US Ambassador to Mozambique.  He holds a master’s degree in public policy from Princeton University and a bachelor’s degree in government from the University of Notre Dame. He has lived in Canada, Ecuador, France, Germany, Haiti, Mozambique, Morocco, Portugal, Switzerland and the United States. 

Doug provides two key takeaways: (1) [for those in the foundation and philanthropy space] he hopes we all continue to explore our aspirations to be good grant-makers and that we, to the extent possible, trust grantee organisations and are as unburdensome as possible. (2) Doug also notes that we are in desperate need globally of kindness and empathy, so we should take care of each other. Be kind to your family, your colleagues, your staff and, yes, even your boss.

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