Breaking Down Risk

I attended a great panel this morning. It was called “The Future of Philanthropy and Development in the Pursuit of the Human Well-Being: An Update on the Bellagio Initiative.” The presenters were Asif Saleh, director of the BRAC Centre; Fabrice Serfati, managing director and CFO of IGNIA; Neelam Makhijani, chief executive of Resource Alliance; and Pesh Framjee; head of National Not for Profit Group, Crowe Clark Whitehill. It was moderated by Heather Grady, vice president of foundation initiatives at The Rockefeller Foundation.

The discussion about risk was particularly captivating. The tendency is for us to be safe. However, that counters that buzz word innovation, which oftentimes is needed to solve the ever-changing challenges. The markets we are “investing” in are disruptive, which is unavoidable. As grantmakers we have to break “risk” down and define where we are willing to take high or low amounts of risk. The message was clear: Be brave in where we are willing to take risk.

Neelam had a wonderful statement worth quoting: “Accountability is a cost of innovation.”  Just something to think about…

This panel could have gone on all day. Fantastic start Council!

Blog submitted by Lorrie Fair, Director of Programs, Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project (a charitabel services fund of the Entertainment Industry Foundation. Craig Cichy is a program officer for the Entertainment Industry Foundation.