Confluence Recommends: Does Big Philanthropy Undermine Democracy & Civil Society?

Wednesday, November 30, 2016 | 6:00-8:30pm | Brower Center, 2150 Allston Way, Berkeley

Buy Tickets: bit.ly/philanthropy3D

Join EPIP Bay Area and Northern California Grantmakers (NCG) as panelists debate the motion: Big Philanthropy Undermines Democracy and Civil Society.

Big philanthropy contributes vast resources toward the well-being of humankind, and society benefits immensely from its achievements in health and medicine, education, arts and culture, international development, and other fields. But critics of mega-foundations have been around since they first emerged out of the Gilded Age of the late 19th century, and the critiques have grown loud in recent years with big philanthropy booming in our current Gilded Age. As tax-exempt private organizations that exercise power in the public sphere with nominal democratic controls and accountability to the public, do mega-foundations reinforce the anti-democratic effects of wealth inequality and weaken civil society? Or are the concerns overblown given the record of these organizations?

For The Motion:

• Leah Hunt-Hendrix, Executive Director of Solidaire
• Austin Belali, Director of the Youth Engagement Fund at the Democracy Alliance

Against The Motion:

• Jane Wales, President and CEO of the World Affairs Council and Global Philanthropy Forum
• Larry Kramer, President of The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

Moderated By:

Dana Lanza, CEO of Confluence Philanthropy

Buy Tickets: bit.ly/philanthropy3D