Time for "empowerment philanthropy"?

• This summer's SSIR cover story, Where Strategic Philanthropy Went Wrong, has caused quite a stir. Written by Mark Kramer and Steve Phillips, it claims to offer a new approach for more equitable philanthropy. For many people, it felt like more of the same.
  
• CEP’s Phil Buchanan pointed out that this is the fourth such “new vision” for philanthropy put out by Kramer alone over the years – three of them published in SSIR. Others, like Ruth Levine, called out the “strawman” in the story’s argument.
• Our own Isabelle Clérié weighed in with her column, Want Effective Philanthropy? Look to the Global South. She wrote that the story “minimizes participatory, asset-based, community-led, and trust-based models that have been around for a long time” and highlights the wonderful Movement for Community-Led Development.
• While I’m sympathetic to the innate desire to write long manifestos about philanthropy, I do wonder if this valuable real estate in SSIR could have been better utilized.

- BW