John Canady, CEO of the National Philanthropic Trust UK (NPT-UK) spoke on “Global Trends in Philanthropy” at the Arab Foundations Forum event hosted by the King Khaled Foundation, in Riyadh on May 2. Mr. Canady also joined the panel discussion with HRH Princess Banderi Al Faisal, CEO of the King Khaled Foundation, and Ms. Clare Woodcraft, CEO of the Emirates Foundation.
John Canady, CEO of NPT-UK said : “It was an honour to address the members of the Arab Foundations Forum and support their work to promote strategic philanthropy in the Arab region. Donor-advised funds have long been popular in the US and the UK where donors value the convenient and flexibility of this type of charitable giving vehicle. Donor-advised funds are now also becoming popular with philanthropists in the Middle East who use donor-advised funds to manage their global philanthropy.”
The presentation highlighted five trends in global philanthropy.
- Structured philanthropy is on the rise: Philanthropists are increasingly using formalised structures, such as donor-advised funds, to plan and execute their philanthropy. Their goal is to be more strategic and achieve greater impact over time.
- Philanthropy as risk capital: Philanthropic capital is unique. Because philanthropic money is not accountable to shareholders (like businesses) or voters (like politicians), private philanthropy can experiment and take risks – sort of like venture capital – to tackle big challenges and find new solutions.
- Philanthropy by collaboration: There is a rise in collaborative giving, where donors aggregate or pool their capital to focus on specific goals. They share best practices, eliminate duplication, and use the initiative to motivate other donors to join in.
- Philanthropy focused on root causes: While there will always be a need to alleviate the suffering of those in immediate need, many global philanthropists are also focusing on tackling root causes of problems versus treating the symptoms.
- Philanthropy driving impact investing: Many global philanthropists are re-visiting the conventional wisdom on endowment management. They are allocating a portion of their endowment capital to impact investing, where an investment achieves both financial and measurable social returns.
NPT-UK is a registered charity in the UK dedicated to providing philanthropic expertise to donors, financial institutions, and foundations. NPT-UK offers the donor-advised fund: a type of charitable giving vehicle that donors may use for their philanthropy instead of setting up a separate foundation. NPT-UK is a UK/US dual qualified charity. Donations to NPT-UK are recognised for tax purposes in both countries simultaneously.
NPT-UK is affiliated with National Philanthropic Trust (NPT) in the United States which was founded in 1996. NPT has raised $7.6 billion in charitable contributions, currently manages $4.2 billion in charitable assets and has made more than 160,000 grants exceeding $3.9 billion to charities around the world.