My Invitation Must Have Been Lost in the Mail

The Global Philanthropy Forum is taking place at Google this week. I so want to be there!!! Just to meet some of the people mentioned in the San Jose Mercury News article. Even Judith Rodin, the CEO of Rockefeller Foundation, is jumping on the capitalist philanthropy model! I want in!

Some basics:

Philanthrocapitalism'

They invest in social causes as they would the stock market or a start-up, but the return is measured not only in financial viability but also what impact the initiative has in solving global problems. The new hybrid model has been dubbed "philanthrocapitalism" and its practitioners "philanthroprenuers."

The 1/1/1 model

Marc Benioff, founder of Salesforce.com and the Salesforce Foundation, created a model for corporate philanthropy known as the 1/1/1 model. His company donates 1 percent of its employees' time, 1 percent of its equity, and 1 percent of its product to philanthropic endeavors. Google has copied Benioff's 1 percent commitment formula.

Profit from benefit

Yet others see a new era dawning.

"Google exemplifies this emerging blur between for-profit and non-profit," said Peter Hero, an adviser to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation. "It gives them an ability to invest in a for-profit entity that doubles or triples the bottom line, provides a financial return but also a significant social and environmental return."

The guiding theme of the Global Philanthropy Forum meeting this week is to explore market-based solutions and encourage entrepreneurship. Instead of funding a medical clinic, that might mean investing in a biotech company for a new vaccine.