While the 7th Annual European Venture Philanthropy Conference is taking place in Turin, Italy, setting the guidelines for the development of this new industry in Europe, VitaEurope’s sister weekly magazine Vita has met Serge Raicher, Chairmant of EVPA to speak about the status of Venture Philanthopy in the Member States.
“The crisis in Europe is draining government budgets and as a consequence, governments and public bodies are increasingly looking for funds allocated to NGOs and social projects to be managed efficiently. Now it is venture philanthropy’s aim to improve the managerial capacities of social organizations and thus to answer this need”, says Serge Raicher, cofounder and president of the European Venture Philanthropy Association.
“We want to help the development of the sector by making information available, especially through market analysis which will be presented in Turin for the first time during our annual assembly . Then there is the exchange of best practices to enable those wishing to invest in venture philanthropy to follow virtuous models. Finally, we want to strengthen the accountability of the social world without invading the field and help foundations, especially Italian ones, to work with venture philanthropy”. But what is the relationship between foundations and venture philanthropists? “Our approach is complementary to the kind of strategy being carried out by philanthropists through giving. Take fundraising, which is an obsession for any social organization. In order to improve their capacity and develop their programs many foundations try to engage venture philanthropists in their projects.”
