by Susan Odongo Society has viewed Philanthropy and civil society as two opposite sides of a coin yet they have a partnership role to play in complementing and supporting each other. The WINGS Forum 2017 reaffirmed this for me. Taking a few steps back to before the WINGS Forum 2017… Prior to attending the conference, the…
by Esther Thompson As I boarded the plane to Mexico City en route to the WINGS Forum 2017, it was with a mix of excitement and trepidation. Would I go all that way and find it useful? Would anyone show up for the workshop I was running? Would Mexico City be as polluted as the…
by Salma Khaled EL Tanany Though philanthropy with its simplest form of giving has been embedded in our culture since long ago, there is still however, the notion that it’s a recent field of study but that’s due to the scarcity of data and knowledge on the sector, and there where comes the role of…
By Carolina Langan After attending Wings Forum I realized that our field, as talking about social issues, has an enormous opportunity cost and several “entries”. It definitely has to be with cost –effect resource allocation and impact measurement but, and even more important, with human values. The role of those who work in philanthropy has…
by Joanne Harding Firstly, Mexico City left me with so many impressions that I can still see, taste, hear it which was so wonderful. It was an amazing experience to be in such a different environment to South Africa but also to see some similarities. It was far to travel and for South Africans was…
by Barbara Ibrahim In the days leading up to WINGS Forum 2017, the organizers asked themselves a question. Should a gathering of global philanthropy professionals step outside normal conference activities into the fraught terrain of public politics? We were at that point distracted by last-minute changes to the speakers’ roster and dealing with missed flight…
Chandrika Sahai At the WINGS Forum in Mexico in February 2017, a session was organized to discuss the initial findings of a new study of philanthropy initiated by the Working Group on Philanthropy for Social Justice and Peace. The purpose of the study is to understand the role of philanthropy in today’s world. We are…
Find out what the delegates got up to at WINGSForum 2017 by checking out our Storify here. You can follow along for the final day on Twitter at @WINGS_Info and let us know your thoughts by using the #CriticalPhilanthropy and #WINGSForum hashtags!
Find out what we got up to on the first day of WINGSForum 2017 by checking out our Storify! Be sure to follow along on Twitter at @WINGS_Info and let us know your thoughts by using the #CriticalPhilanthropy and #WINGSForum hashtags.
Couldn’t make it to Mexico City for WINGSForum? Make sure you catch the plenary sessions which will be livestreamed! Simply follow the link here, and let us know what you think by tweeting at us at @WINGS_info using the #CriticalPhilanthropy and #WINGSForum hashtags.
We caught up with one of the WINGSForum speakers and Chair of the Planning Committee, Jenny Hodgson. Hodgson is currently the Executive Director of the Global Fund for Community Foundations, having joined the organisation in January 2007. She has worked in the field of local philanthropy development in the former Soviet Union, sub-Saharan Africa and…
In the run up to WingsForum 2017, we spoke to Barry Knight, Director at the Webb Memorial Trust, about the previous WingsForum conference. You did an evaluative report on WINGSForum 2014. What do you think is the Forum’s greatest strength? Having evaluated more than 20 large conferences in philanthropy over the past two decades, WINGSForum…
We’re looking to hear from you, and are welcoming proposals for WINGSForum 2017. To find out more, be sure to visit the official WINGSForum website here, and apply today! Looking forward to hearing from you, and be sure to follow the #WF2017 hashtag on Twitter to keep up to date with the latest news!
“Turkey is usually described as a bridge between different cultures and people, like WINGS, which has diverse members all around the world. This resemblance between Turkey and WINGS contributed to the Forum in a way that the many participants interactively participated to the sessions by acknowledging the importance of voicing and sharing diverse ideas at…
Maria Chertok (CAF) will take the role of WINGS Chairperson in January 2016, succeeding Dr. Atallah Kuttab of SAANED. We asked them to reflect on the evolution of WINGS and to share what’s in store for the network.
In this recap of WINGSForum 2014, Jane Mayer of WINGS reflects on how collaboration and diversity contributed to a successful event, and we share for the first time our comprehensive conference evaluation.
Beulah Fredericks of SACGLF shares grantmaking lessons in a “network” context, from this year’s WINGSForum in Istanbul. “Ownership and sustainability, critical components in the DNA of grantmaking, are being embraced with longevity beyond funding and the grant cycle. Although grantmaking is not easily understood, it remains an important tool.”
“The fact that the Forum was held in Istanbul was a powerful reminder that foundations are part of civil society rather than standing aloof from it. The notorious decision of the Turkish president to ban tweeting made tweeters of the most Luddite of us, to make clear that we don’t like being banned even from those freedoms that ordinarily we don’t value very much, such as speaking truth to power in 140 characters or fewer.”
Fiona Budd, business development manager for Charities Aid Foundation Southern Africa, looks back at WINGSForum in Istanbul. “CAF is the oldest member organization of WINGS, and it is rare to have an opportunity to connect with those whose work is so connected to my own.”
In our latest WINGSForum 2014 reaction piece, Ansis Bērziņš of the Community Foundation Movement in Latvia emphasises the role of data in strengthening community identity. “Reliable data is a tool that explains what philanthropy is, what grantmakers do, and how these concepts can contribute to local communities. Data can and does show that we are not alone.”
Philanthropy in Focus 