Follow us on Twitter:

LEADERSHIP SUMMIT ON GLOBAL PHILANTHROPY
February 17-19, 2011

Representatives from 40 institutions from throughout the world came together to attend a frank exchange of ideas in a “think tank” summit on global philanthropy called by the Heyman Center for Philanthropy and Fundraising within NYU-SCPS.  Sessions at the Leadership Summit on Global Philanthropy, which took place February 17 through February 19, 2011, focused on the challenges in 21st century fundraising, including new trends in the American model of fundraising, social media in fundraising, the changing face of corporate and foundation global philanthropy, the pitfalls and challenges in securing funding for non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and international fundraising.
 

Dame Stephanie Shirley's Keynote Speech: "Giving Philanthropists a Voice Worldwide"

Dame Stephanie Shirley, Ambassador for Philanthropy of the United Kingdom, opened the Conference on February 17th with a keynote speech (featured below) entitled "Giving Philanthropists a Voice Worldwide." Heyman Center Academic Director Doug White also had the chance to interview Dame Stephanie and ask her about the insights and lessons she's learned during her current role as Ambassador for Philanthropy for the United Kingdom.

 Video featured below includes:

• NYU President John Sexton opened the second day of the Conference with an address entitled, "A Fundraising Life."
• Stacy Palmer, The Chronicle of Philanthropy editor, presented on ten new trends in philanthropy.
• Naomi Levine, executive director and founder of the Heyman Center, called for more government oversight in her speech about the American model of philanthropy and fundraising.
• Sir C. Duncan Rice, conference co-chair and former principal of the University of Aberdeen, gave a luncheon address entitled "(Mostly) British Philanthropy since 1995."

Dame Stephanie Shirley

Dame Stephanie Shirley is a highly successful entrepreneur turned ardent philanthropist. Having arrived in Britain as an unaccompanied child refugee in 1939, she started what became Xansa on her dining room table with £6 in 1962.  In 25 years as its Chief Executive she developed it into a leading business technology group, pioneering new work practices and changing the position of professional women (especially in hi-tech) along the way. Since retiring in 1993, she has served on corporate Boards such as Tandem Computers Inc. (1992-7), the John Lewis Partnership plc (1999-2001) and the European Advisory Board of Korn/Ferry International (2001-4). But her focus has been increasingly on philanthropy based on her strong belief in business people giving something back to society. Her main interests are autism (her autistic son Giles died age 35 in 1998) and making better use of IT in the voluntary sector. She is also much in demand as a keynote speaker at international conferences. Her charitable Shirley Foundation is now one of the top 50 grant-giving foundations in the UK with £50m grants given over the past seven years. It has initiated and funded a number of projects that are pioneering by nature, strategic in impact and significant in money terms. Current activity is focussed on Autism Speaks in the UK and internationally, dedicated to fund research into the causes of autism and hence halve the global cost of the disorder by 2020.

John Sexton

John Sexton, the fifteenth President of New York University, also is the Benjamin Butler Professor of Law and NYU Law School's Dean Emeritus, having served as Dean for 14 years. He joined the Law School's faculty in 1981, was named the School's Dean in 1988, and was designated the University's President in 2001. President Sexton is Chair of the American Council on Education, Chair of the New York Academy of Sciences and immediate past Chair of the Commission on Independent Colleges and University of New York. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a past member of the Executive Committee of the Association of American Universities. He has served as the Chairman of the Board of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (2003-2006) and Chair of the Federal Reserve Systems Council of Chairs (2006). He served as a Board Member for the National Association of Securities Dealers (1996-1998), and was Founding Chair of the Board of NASD Dispute Resolution (2000-2002). He also serves on the Board of the Institute of International Education. While Dean of the Law School he was President of the Association of American Law Schools. President Sexton received a B.A. in History (1963) from Fordham College; an M.A. in Comparative Religion (1965) and a Ph.D. in History of American Religion (1978) Fordham University; and a J.D. magna cum laude (1979) from Harvard Law School. For a full bio, click here.

Naomi Levine

In addition to being the chair and executive director of the George H. Heyman, Jr. Center for Philanthropy and Fundraising, Naomi Levine is special advisor to the president of New York University and chair of the boards of the Edgar M. Bronfman Center for Jewish Student Life and the Taub Center for Israel Studies at NYU. For 22 years, she was senior vice president for external affairs at NYU, where she helped raise over $2.5 billion for the University. Previously, Levine was the national executive director of the American Jewish Congress.

Stacy Palmer

Stacy Palmer is editor of The Chronicle of Philanthropy. She has served as a top editor since the newspaper was founded in 1988 and has overseen the development of its websites http://philanthropy.com and http://philanthropycareers.com. She has appeared frequently on radio and television to offer commentary on news in the nonprofit world. She is also editor of Challenges for Philanthropy and Nonprofits, a book published by the University Press of New England that collects three decades of observations by the nonprofit activist and The Chronicle of Philanthropy columnist Pablo Eisenberg. Before she joined The Chronicle of Philanthropy, she was editor for government and politics at The Chronicle of Higher Education. She is a graduate of Brown University, where she earned a bachelor's degree in international relations.

Sir C. Duncan Rice

Professor Sir Duncan Rice was principal and vice-chancellor of the University of Aberdeen from 1996 until 2010. He was previously dean of the faculty (1985-91) and vice-chancellor (1991-96) at New York University. Professor Rice graduated with first class honours in history from Aberdeen in 1964 and got his doctorate at Edinburgh in l969. He taught briefly at Aberdeen before crossing the Atlantic in 1970 to work at Yale, Hamilton College, and then N.Y.U. Professor Rice has published widely as a professional historian. He has had a number of academic awards and honours, including postgradute and postdoctoral fellowships at Harvard and Yale. He has honorary degrees from N.Y.U., the Robert Gordon University, and the University of Edinburgh. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and was made a Knight Bachelor in 2009. He has served on a number of boards and trusts, most recently on the Heritage Lottery Fund for Scotland, and as chairman of Case Europe. Professor Rice is married with three children and lives in Aberdeen.