Global Philanthropy Forum

I went down to Washington DC yesterday for the third and final day of the Global Philanthropy Forum. It's an annual gathering of philanthropists to share ideas and foster coordination. Minister Davis was on a panel on policy, philanthropy, and investment in post-conflict countries. So this was a very fortuitous opportunity to meet him as well as the foundations in Liberia.

The day started with a breakfast on Liberia led by Humanity United, one of the primary foundations in the country. They discussed Liberia's opportunity, long list or pressing needs, the role that foundations have been playing to date, and the novel model of coordination that foundations are employing. In attendance were the heads of Daphne Foundation, NoVo Foundation, TrustAfrica, and Humanity United - four of the five foundation in Coming Together for Liberia's Future, a group who pledged $15M to help Liberia's reconstruction and development efforts at the Clinton Global Initiative last fall. The fifth, the McCall McBain Foundation, ironically is led by Max's (my boyfriend) former boss. Small world! Also in attendance were representatives from the Center for Global Development, BRAC, Google.org, the Hilton Foundation, and other smaller family foundations.

Later in the day was Minister Davis's panel, which was very informative. The panel had representatives from government (Minister Davis), philanthropy, NGOs, and multilateral institutions (the IFC). Frankly what impressed me most were the calls for humility from international organizations -- recognizing that they really needed to get on the ground to understand what was happening and provide proper support.

Tarek, my friend from Humanity United, has taken me under his wing and really went out of his way to introduce me to everyone I needed to know. They were all incredibly receptive to me, excited about me supporting the Philanthropy Secretariat this summer, and particularly excited to have me working on this technology strategy. It was an amazing day of networking, a refreshing change from the monotony of the classroom and the problem sets, and most of all, generated even more excitement in me for the coming summer.

But in the meantime, I've got a few finals to take.