The European Social Catalyst Fund

This blog was first published on the DAFNE website on 30 January. The European Social Catalyst Fund (ESCF) is a new initiative recently launched at Philanthropy House, Brussels by Deputy Director General Signe Ratso of DG Research and Innovation… Read More

“Philanthropy in the digital age”

“Philanthropy in the digital age” is an ERSTE Foundation Talk Europe! video with Lucy Bernholz “First we have to figure out how to make technology work for our values. Right now, most of the digital technology that we use was created to serve commercial purposes and/or… Read More

100 years of the Barrow Cadbury Trust

This blog was originally posted on the Barrow Cadbury Trust website on 23 January. This year is our centenary.  For the last hundred years our work has reflected the social and political challenges of the time.  In the early days of the trust much… Read More

Avoid making a drama out of a crisis

The EFC’s Communications Professionals in Philanthropy Network held its Autumn Meeting in Athens, hosted by the Bodossaki Foundation from 21-22 November 2019. The meeting focused on members’ experiences in preparing for and weathering communications crises. During his masterclass, George Flassas, Senior Consultant at Ogilvy Greece, explained that although NGOs… Read More

Reflections on crisis communications – how prepared are we?

A few weeks ago, a group of passionate communications professionals met in Athens, Greece, to deep dive into the issue of crisis communications. This was the autumn meeting of the EFC’s Communications Professionals in Philanthropy Network, proudly hosted by Bodossaki Foundation of Greece on 21 & 22 November. Discussing… Read More

Communication is the strategy

This blog was first published on Alliance on 31 October Communications strategy: what is it exactly in the context of a grant-making foundation? How can we use communications to achieve our goals? And, why is communication important anyway? As the Head of Communications for Oak Foundation, I… Read More

Reflections from EFC’s Grantmakers East Forum 2019

This blog was first published by Alliance Magazine on 30 October 2019. It was a pleasure to participate in the EFC Grantmakers East Forum (GEF) 2019 in Tbilisi, Georgia.  The focus of the GEF was to provide networking opportunities and platforms for critical discussion about… Read More

Are we digitalising civic movements?

This blog was first published by Alliance Magazine on 29 October 2019. During the EFC Grantmakers East Forum in Tbilisi, the donors in attendance were united when pondering the main question: How can institutional philanthropy support citizens and the new wave of civic activism? … Read More

Fight climate change with your fork

Until recently, most private foundations ignored climate change. Rather, they preferred to combat its negative effects such as migration and health care. This is useful, but it left unanswered many of the Big Questions about the cause of climate change. This neglect must end. Our foundation, the Barilla Center for… Read More

30 years of the EFC

Ahead of addressing the 74th meeting of the United Nations General Assembly this year on September 26th in New York, the President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, took a selfie, posted it on Twitter with the hashtag #UNselfie and wrote that “many more people will see this selfie than will… Read More