In Conversation with Rien van Gendt on Philanthropy’s Future

A two-part conversation with elder statesman of European philanthropy, Rien van Gendt

Rien van Gendt is one of the outstanding European philanthropy leaders of his generation. We met twenty years ago when I led the British Pears Foundation and he ran the Dutch Van Leer Foundation.

In addition, Van Gendt was one of the founders and subsequently chairman of the Alliance Publishing Trust, where I went on to work as executive editor of Alliance Magazine.

Today, we are both affiliated with World of Philanthropy and I had the pleasure of answering a few of Rien’s questions in this two-part conversation about future directions for philanthropy.

In response to today’s context, I argue that the public have higher expectations: they want to know whether money has been accumulated legitimately, whether it’s been taxed appropriately, and whether sufficient resources are being returned to society.

They also want to know where philanthropic capital is being directed, by whom and for what purposes and, ultimately, the influence or power being exercised in the process.

More often than not, there are good answers to these questions and the responsibility of institutional philanthropy is to demonstrate to society the value it adds.

Through the whole philanthropy system, we need the highest possible standards: we should treat philanthropy as deep responsibility – care for our society just as we care for our family - and not a lifestyle accessory. 

This two-part interview with Rien van Gendt for World of Philanthropy is here.

Part 1: https://www.wereldvanfilantropie.nl/nieuws/filantropie-quo-vadis

Part 2: https://www.wereldvanfilantropie.nl/nieuws/filantropie-quo-vadis-2-en-slot