Thursday, March 31, 2011
Grants Powering Growth: Jet Fuel For Social Impact?
Session Description
As philanthropists embrace social impact investing, grants can seem somewhat boring, old hat, passé. And yet, the potential for unencumbered resources to catalyse social impact is undeniable. This panel will explore some of the innovations in grant making and grant-powered organisations that are turning accepted wisdom on its head.
When | Where
11:00 - 12:30
Thursday, March 31
Session leaders
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President, Growth Philanthropy Network
Alex Rossides has led both non-profit and for-profit organisations. He served as CEO of Interactive Video Technologies, managing director of Digital Evolution Venture Capital, and as a management consultant at Towers Perrin. In the social sector his focus has been on civic engagement and youth education and development. He founded the Corporate Community Initiative and the College Assistance Program. Rossides serves in numerous volunteer and advisory positions with other NGOs. He has a BA from Dartmouth and his MBA from Columbia.
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Managing Director of Social Innovation, Emerson Collective
Anne Marie is a Managing Director at the Emerson Collective where she funds and supports non-profit and for-profit social entrepreneurs and innovators. Before joining EC, Anne Marie was a Managing Director of the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation where she made early-stage grants to high-growth, high-impact non-profits including Grassroot Soccer, The Mission Continues, One Acre Fund and VisionSpring. Anne Marie is on the advisory boards of IDEO.org and REDF, and is a judge for the the Social Venture Network Innovation Awards and Tech Museum Young Innovator Award. Earlier in her career, Anne Marie was the executive director of United Cerebral Palsy of the Golden Gate and a Roberts Enterprise Development Fund (REDF) Farber Fellow at Community Gatepath, a social enterprise that serves children and adults with developmental disabilities. Before entering the non-profit arena, Anne Marie worked for a public company and an investment bank.
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Partner, Sumerian Partners
Chris has a background in business and development. He is a co-founder of Sumerian Partners, and was the former Director of the Shell Foundation. Chris has a track record in applying an “enterprise-based” approach to philanthropy, being an early pioneer of “impact investing”. Through his leadership of Shell Foundation he supported the creation and scale-up of a portfolio of leading global social enterprises. He is the author of various reports including Shell Foundation’s Enterprise Solutions to Poverty (2005), Enterprise Solutions to Scale (2010) and Accelerating Access to Energy (2014). He received the World CSR award for “Social Innovation” in 2013.
Chris completed his Doctorate in Ecology at Oxford University and then set up a business in the environmental services sector. He then acted as senior environment adviser at the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID). He has worked with a variety of donors, governments, NGO’s and businesses in over 100 low and middle income countries and has lived in both West and East Africa.
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Writer & Broadcaster,
Isabel Hilton is a London based writer and broadcaster. She has reported from China, South Asia, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Europe and has written and presented several documentaries for BBC radio and television. She has authored and co-authored several books and holds honorary doctorates from Bradford and Stirling Universities.
