«A new form of philanthropy»

The Philanthropist: What was the trig­ger for the deve­lo­p­ment of this DAS?
Laeti­tia Gill: We noti­ced that there is a lack of formal offe­rings for phil­an­thropy in the execu­tive educa­tion market. At the same time, we saw a strong inte­rest in acade­mic and profes­sio­nal trai­ning in this field. The hall­mark of this DAS is its inter­di­sci­pli­nary nature, which is neces­sary if we are to fully under­stand the complex field of phil­an­thropy today. We want to build on the local ecosys­tem. Geneva is one of the hubs of phil­an­thropy and home to many inter­na­tio­nal orga­ni­sa­ti­ons. So we chose to offer this trai­ning in English, in a hybrid format, so that people from other count­ries can participate.

TP: What do you think is the strength of the offer?
LG: We take an inter­di­sci­pli­nary approach. One of the main strengths of this DAS is the great diver­sity of the lectu­r­ers. We have brought toge­ther acade­mics and prac­ti­tio­ners from diffe­rent disci­pli­nes: we talk about diver­sity and we live it too! The parti­ci­pants will thus bene­fit from a broad network. A second strength is the time hori­zon. We don’t just look at the present, but also cover what phil­an­thropy will mean in 10 or 20 years.

TP: Many issues such as finance, leader­ship or diver­sity are not speci­fic to phil­an­thropy. How do you deve­lop a phil­an­thropy-speci­fic perspec­tive on these issues?
LG: All are important factors to be conside­red by all orga­ni­sa­ti­ons, public and private. Howe­ver, they are parti­cu­larly important for phil­an­thropy: the sector needs to lead the way in ensu­ring that best prac­tice is in place when it comes to finance, leader­ship and diver­sity. Our course has a strong focus on all of these elements. For exam­ple, the finance module focu­ses on invest­ment, trans­pa­rency and accoun­ta­bi­lity. We talk very speci­fi­cally about how invest­ments should be aligned with a foundation’s mission. We also want to take advan­tage of our university’s loca­tion and are conside­ring visits to foun­da­ti­ons to enrich the offering.

TP: The profes­sio­na­liza­tion of the sector depends on educa­tio­nal oppor­tu­ni­ties. How do you see the Swiss foun­da­tion land­scape in this respect?
LG: The sector is deve­lo­ping very quickly. We can see that the manage­ment and gover­nance of foun­da­ti­ons in Switz­er­land is beco­ming more and more profes­sio­nal. Howe­ver, 80% of foun­da­ti­ons are supported by volun­teers and it is not easy for volun­teers to find addi­tio­nal time for trai­ning. This does not mean that they are not inte­res­ted, but there is a need to create a link with the trai­ning offer. Further­more, profes­sio­na­li­sa­tion should not be limi­ted to Switz­er­land. Globa­li­sa­tion chal­lenges foun­da­ti­ons. Foun­da­ti­ons which are working with the deve­lo­ping world need to under­stand how the problems are deve­lo­ping locally. So they need a compass.

TP: What do you see as the major chal­lenges for foun­da­ti­ons and NGOs in Switz­er­land?
LG: Digi­ta­liza­tion and arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence are chan­ging the world. Howe­ver, many foun­da­ti­ons are still not present on the inter­net. Perhaps this is deli­be­rate for reasons of discre­tion, but this will not work in the future. There is a need for more trans­pa­rency and a new legi­ti­miza­tion. Digi­ta­liza­tion plays an important role in this. The inte­gra­tion of future gene­ra­ti­ons will also be a major challenge.

The phil­an­thro­pic sector needs diver­sity, not only in terms of gender, but also in terms of gene­ra­ti­ons and social class.

Laeti­tia Gill

TP: Why?
LG: Young people engage differ­ently. Think about crowd­fun­ding. They use their mobile phones to give money to a project they care about, they are not inte­res­ted in a tax exemp­tion. There are new ways of giving, both in money and in kind. Crowd­fun­ding is a growing new form of phil­an­thropy. We need to engage young people. The phil­an­thro­pic sector needs diver­sity, not only in terms of gender, but also in terms of gene­ra­ti­ons and social class. This is one of the reasons why our DAS also wants to attract people who are only indi­rectly connec­ted to phil­an­thropy and who see the need to create a stron­ger link with this sector.

TP: Where do you stand with this DAS?
LG: The posi­tive feed­back from our Advi­sory Board and espe­ci­ally from inte­res­ted parti­ci­pants is very encou­ra­ging. We are very plea­sed to have recei­ved appli­ca­ti­ons from a number of highly quali­fied candi­da­tes. This shows that the demand is there and our offer is attractive.

DAS “Stra­te­gic and Opera­tio­nal Phil­an­thropy” (34 ECTS points) at the Univer­sity of Geneva

The language of instruc­tion is English. The course starts in Septem­ber 2021 and lasts until August 2022. The offi­cial regis­tra­tion dead­line is May 31st.

The detailed programme can be found here