Although grant making clients have been our largest charity client group in the UK for many years, I’ve never worked directly for one; until now.
When the opportunity for a secondment to LGT Venture Philanthropy (LGT VP) came up, I jumped at the chance to experience working for an international foundation. With its headquarters in Zurich, the foundation was established in 2007 and has been active in funding and partnering with organisations in Africa and India across three core themes of environment, education and health. Since inception, LGT VP has supported 80 organisations, contributing to improving the lives of more than 17 million people. Beyond those headline numbers, however, the strategic interventions and change these organisations have achieved over the years tell the bigger story.
As I embark on this seven-month adventure covering the role of Director of Partnerships and Communications during Bianca Medzini's parental leave, I take with me all my private client experience of working with donors who want to collaborate with others in their charitable giving, as well as years of dealing with boards of grant making charities and seeing a variety of grant making processes and ways of operating. It’s an exciting time to join LGT Venture Philanthropy, as the foundation broadens its partnerships, including with Synchronicity Earth and National Geographic's Pristine Seas. You can find out more about the foundation’s recent work in its 2024 Annual Review.
This secondment will help me to find out what venture philanthropy means in practice, and how collaborative philanthropy can be the catalyst for systemic change.
This secondment will help me to find out what venture philanthropy means in practice, and how collaborative philanthropy can be the catalyst for systemic change. I will learn more about funding circles. It will also be a learning opportunity to be part of a small and agile team rather than being one of thousands of colleagues in a large private sector business.
I’m looking forward to getting to know more about our partner organisations, and I’m particularly interested in their work which underpins communities through supporting biodiversity, and the marine environment. Over the months ahead, I look forward to sharing ‘insights from the inside’, as I experience working life with an international grant making foundation.
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