April 22, 2009 | Read Time: 1 minute
President Obama faces a health-care crisis at home, conflicts abroad, and a global financial problem; to solve these issues he needs new ideas from philanthropists and others, Jane Wales, president of the World Affairs Council, told participants at the start of this year’s Global Philanthropy Forum in Washington.
“Addressing these and other challenges as president, he like any other world leader is going to need to be able to tap all sources of social innovation, be they from the public, the private, the nongovernmental or philanthropic sector,” said Ms. Wales, who is also co-founder of the forum. “And that’s why we’re all here today.”
About 400 wealthy donors and nonprofit officials from around the world are attending the three-day event.
While she encouraged the participants to assist the Obama administration, she cautioned that they should be careful with how close they work with it.
“It’s terribly important to understand what each partner brings to the table. And in many respects, what the philanthropic sector’s greatest asset is is its independence,” she said. “And I’m not not just speaking about independence from government; I’m also speaking about independence from the sort of snap judgments of electoral politics, the snap judgments of the markets, the tyranny of quarterly reports, and a world driven by a 24-hour news cycle.”
Preserving that independence allows philanthropies to take risks, which is crucial in these tough economic times, Ms. Wales said. “it preserves the capacity to make long-term investments in the public interest.”
