The Global Philanthropy Report: Perspectives on the Global Foundation Sector

Global philanthropy holds immense promise in the 21^stcentury. Global giving is growing, gaining visibility, and creating much-needed change around the world . Over time and across geographies the world has witnessed a near-universal charitable instinct to help others. Recent years, however, have seen a marked and promising change in charitable giving – wealthy individuals, families, and corporations are looking to give more, to give more strategically, and to increase the impact of their social investments.

There appears to be a growing belief that institutional philanthropy can encourage more strategic investment approaches; facilitate collaboration; serve as a role model for others; and, in sum, have greater impact on the economic and social challenges being addressed. Despite the growing significance and scale of institutionally-based philanthropy, remarkably little is known about the related resources and their deployment at the national, regional, and global levels. Until the launch of this effort there has been no ongoing and globally coordinated undertaking to quantify the volume of global giving, classify its purposes, or seek to understand its current and potential impact.

The study was supported in part by UBS and the Ford Foundation, and over 14 additional funders supporting national-level research.