Tipping the Balance of Power Between Funders and Donees
Reinforcing a culture of true partnership
Philanthropists and their trusts/foundations play a vital role in our society by helping charities, supporting foundations, and local communities, promoting culture and philanthropic initiatives aimed at alleviating the conditions of the most vulnerable people and generating a positive and tangible impact. They have the incredible power and privilege to drive investments that could affect the future and change our society for the better.
But entering the world of philanthropy and social investment for the first time can be a challenging and confusing step, and the lack of understanding and poor communication between funders and charities often represents one of the major barriers to giving.
During this event, we will discuss the importance of balancing the power between funders and grantees, and why there is a need to build strong relationships and create more space for collaboration within the sector. We will address the valuable role professional advisors can play in supporting clients into the world of doing good with their wealth, and:
• What are the issues related to the power imbalance and how can they be addressed?
• How can charities and funders work together as true partners? Is there a value in unrestricted funding?
• What are the characteristics of a equal partnership and is it possible to achieve this? Are charities prepared for this approach?
• How can professional advisors and intermediaries help to bridge the gap between funders and charities?
• How does measuring effectiveness help create positive relationships and trust with donors?
Chair Patricia Hamzahee, Director, Integriti Capital
Panel Hannah Hoare, Executive Director, The Blue Thread; Rosemary MacDonald, CEO, UK Community Foundation; Harriet Stranks, Director of Grants, Llyods Bank, and Chris West, Partner, Sumerian Partners.
Speakers’ Bios
Patricia Hamzahee, FRSA
After some 20 years in investment banking and financial communications, Patricia now helps social enterprises attract private capital and advises companies on their responsible investment strategies. Through Extend Ventures, she is working to democratize and diversify access to funding for Black and ethnic minority businesses. She is a Trustee of Ballet Black, Chair of Friends of International House New York UK, the outgoing Chair of the Development Board of Black Cultural Archives, an Associate
Director of The Finance Foundation, Senior Advisor to The Good Economy social value consultancy, a member of Women in Social Finance and a member of the BVCA’s Responsible Investment Advisory Committee from 2012-2019.7
Hannah Hoare
Hannah has worked across the third sector. She started her career at the UK Department for Education, working on a range of policy areas including Free Schools, school funding, and with Ministerial and analytic teams.
Moving on to Social Finance UK, Hannah worked with local and national government, charities and social enterprises, and grantmaking trusts and foundations to develop effective responses to tricky social issues including health-related unemployment, looked after children and adoption. Much of her work was within the Impact Incubator, a partnership with grantmaking trusts and foundations, responding to challenges including tackling perpetrators of domestic abuse, enabling addiction recovery and supporting children leaving care.
She also has experience setting up a new charity and developing its fundraising and programming strategy.
Harriet Stranks
Harriet Stranks is the Director of Grants, responsible for all aspects of the Foundation’s grant making across England and Wales from initial approach, through application and assessment to approval and monitoring. She is responsible for the Foundation’s team of regionally based Grant Managers, as well as the central Service Delivery Team. She is a member of the Foundation’s senior leadership team and is responsible for the development and delivery of Enhance, the Foundation’s programme of capacity building support for charities. Prior to joining the Foundation in 2012, Harriet was the Regional Manager for the North of England for BBC Children In Need for nine years. Between 1999 and 2003, Harriet developed and managed a charity called Manchester Kids for Magic 1152 Radio and before that she was a fundraiser for Christie’s Hospital. Harriet also spent 6 years as a foster carer for 2 siblings and has a son at University.
Dr Chris West
Chris has a background in business, development and corporate philanthropy.
Chris completed his Doctorate in Ecology at Oxford University and then set up a business in the environmental services sector. Following the successful growth and sale of this business, he became a senior environment adviser at the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID). He has worked with a variety of donors, governments, NGO’s and businesses in over 100 countries.
Chris then helped establish the Shell Foundation (www.shellfoundation.org) in 2000 and was its Director from 2008-2015. In this role Chris promoted an “enterprise-based” approach to philanthropy, being one of the early pioneers of “venture philanthropy” and “impact investing”. He helped create and scale up a portfolio of leading social enterprises involved in the provision of clean energy, sustainable mobility and job creation by small and medium sized enterprises.
Chris is currently a co-founder and Director of Sumerian Partners (www.sumerianpartners.com) and Sumerian Foundation (www.sumerianfoundation.com). In these respective roles, he advises high net worth individuals, institutions and corporates on how to maximise the impact of their philanthropy, and manages philanthropic capital on behalf of others.
Chris is the author of various reports including Shell Foundation’s Enterprise Solutions to Poverty (2005), Enterprise Solutions to Scale (2010), Accelerating Access to Energy (2014) and Marginalised Returns (SSIR 2017). He has been profiled in the Stanford Social Innovation Review and received the World CSR award for “Social Innovation” in 2013.
Chris was one of the founding members of the European Venture Philanthropy Association (EVPA) and is now on the EVPA Membership Committee. He is also a Trustee of various UK registered charities, and is currently the Chair of Kent Wildlife Trust.
Rosemary Macdonald
Rosemary Macdonald is a leading third-sector expert in transparency and accountability, governance, and best practice, and has been a part of the Community Foundation network for twelve years.
With a master’s degree in Charity Finance and Accounting and a diploma in Charity Management, Chartered Secretaries and Administrators, Rosemary Macdonald drives the growth and strategic direction at UK Community Foundations – a national network which connects people and organisations that want to improve their communities.
Committed to promoting the work of community foundations, Rosemary is focussed on taking the charity sector forward, building strategic partnerships at local, regional, and national government level and with the business and public sectors.Prior to becoming CEO, Rosemary served six years on the Board for UK Community Foundations, and during that period was Vice Chair for three years and Chair of the Membership Committee for three years, respectively. Rosemary has served as CEO at Wiltshire Community Foundation for twelve years
Terms and conditions
Prior registration is required. Following resistration, registrants will receive an email containing instructions for joining the webinar. Attendees will have the opportunity to ask live questions of the speakers during the web-event.
Please note we can only accept credit/debit cards as methods of payment for the web-event. Payment must be made by credit/debit card at time of booking. It is regretted that refunds of purchased of web-events are not permissible, nor bookings transferable to another participant/registrant name. All bookings are considered binding once the online registration form is submitted and booking completed.
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