A new philanthropic model discussed on Davos Philanthropic Roundtable

Davos Philanthropic Roundtable organized by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation closed its work in Davos, Switzerland. Participants thereof discussed a new, accountable to society philanthropic model allowing to achieve long-term measurable results.

"We have to develop the best model of what to do and how to endow", Bill Clinton, 42nd President of USA and one of the world's greatest philanthropists, mentioned in his video-address. "The sense of philanthropy is to make living conditions better for the others. And we are to dedicate ourselves to the initiatives that would give a good result. This might be a climate change tackling. This might relate to the countries suffering from poverty. The most important is that, thinking of future, we should consider all the challenges and all the problems but do our best to achieve results".

According to the discussion participants' opinion the new philanthropic model, the XXI century model has to be based on three key principles. The first is a necessity to systematically approach social cause employing the best managerial business practices.

The second basic principle of the new model is that a philanthropist should have a personal attachment to the cause and a personal benchmark of the results. "Philanthropy does not have a measure or accountability," mentioned George Soros. "I could not find reliable means and ways of estimating what's successful and what's not. Ultimately, everything depends on a person and his/her attitude". It is possible to build a proper social projects system, but it might not be successful without being backed up by personal participation, emotions and philanthropist's aspiration to make the world better.

Finally, the third principle is that a field of philanthropic activity should be expanded to involve not only non-governmental organizations and business, but also a broad public.