Bellagio Initiative outlines actions to guide future philanthropic and development collaboration

The Bellagio Initiative Summit has ended with a determination by development organisations and philanthropists to build mutual trust, share learning and develop joint training initiatives.

The commitments are contained in an aide-mémoire (PDF) which will pave the way to a more comprehensive framework for action to be published in the new year.

They are among a series of 12 key messages and 15 action points to emerge during the Summit which saw a diverse international gathering of development practitioners, opinion leaders, social entrepreneurs, donors and others engaged in contributing to the new framework for philanthropic and international development collaboration. Commitments include:

• Building or improving upon shared platforms for collecting, analysing and acting on data, including that for less tangible and quantitative metrics which may be used to measure ‘wellbeing'
• Instituting better and more reciprocal feedback mechanisms between the development and philanthropic sectors, and safe spaces for reviewing performance, admitting failures, and challenging assumptions and stereotypes
• Developing tools for philanthropies to better understand their risk tolerance and to construct portfolios of grants and projects that reflect a mix of risk
• Creating a centre of excellence that is a training centre and repository for philanthropic organisations
• Convening working groups for new philanthropists on topics such as guidelines for funders and NGOs in building partnerships
• Providing workshops on philanthropic infrastructure, development priorities and collaboration for high-net worth philanthropists from Asia and Africa
• Exploring innovative ways to more effectively find, support and scale innovations that support human wellbeing
• Supporting expansion and greater quality of philanthropic endeavours in China.

The Bellagio Initiative is led by IDS, the Resource Alliance and the Rockefeller Foundation. The aide-mémoire, put together by the three partners, recognises today’s evolving international development and aid environment in which existing models of development are being challenged and new forms of funding emerging. Increasingly questions are being asked about the aims of development and philanthropic effort, and in particular about the merits and obstacles of using the concept of wellbeing as a guide to development preferable to more traditional income-focused measures.

The aide-mémoire states '... though our discussions were robust and deep, we surfaced as many questions as we resolved. Nevertheless, we believe that these messages, commitments, and outline of a framework will make a distinct contribution to the fields of philanthropy and development in the coming years'.

The 15-day Bellagio Initiative Summit was held at The Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center, 8-23 November 2011. The event drew upon a series of global dialogues and specially commissioned papers and more than 100 leaders from the worlds of politics, economics, business, philanthropy, civil society organisations and international development participated. It also involved the engagement of more than 1,000 individuals across the world through social media.

The aide-mémoire is the forerunner of a more detailed final report from the Summit to be published early next year.

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From: Institute of Develpment Studies