Do One Better with Alberto Lidji in Philanthropy, Sustainability and Social Entrepreneurship

  A fascinating discussion on the urgency of the climate crisis, including insight into some highly innovative technologies being pursued to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and to refreeze the polar regions.   Sir David King was the UK Government's permanent Special Representative for Climate Change from September 2013 until March 2017 and was previously the Government’s Chief Scientifi...

  Vikas is a repeat guest on The Do One Better! Podcast. He first came on the show in 2019 when he was heading the Varkey Foundation – the organisation behind the one million dollar Global Teacher Prize.   He is an education policy expert and in this episode Vikas talks about the upcoming inaugural World Education Week, taking place 5th to 9th in October, virtually. The event is organised by T4 an...

  Sandro notes that the world is experiencing breakthrough scientific discoveries at unprecedented pace. He asks: if we can anticipate these emerging technologies, can we then unlock their potential to improve our world for the benefit of society?   GESDA was started by the Swiss government, who provided approximately 50% of the initial funding; this was matched by philanthropy.  The organisation...

  Vodafone Group is one of the world’s leading telecoms and technology service providers – covering such things as connectivity, convergence and the internet of things. They also have strong expertise in mobile financial services and digital transformation in emerging markets. They mainly operate in Europe and Africa, with mobile operations in 24 countries.   Dorothée explains how the role of the...

IKEA was founded in Sweden, in 1943, by Ingvar Kamprad, whose vision was to improve everyday life for the many.  The IKEA Foundation is independent from the retail business with a sole focus on creating brighter lives on a liveable planet through philanthropy and grant-making   They work to create more family wealth; to enable families to afford a better life. When families have a sustainable inco...

Cynthia will be hosting the 'National Prenatal-to-3 Research to Policy Summit' on 15th September 2020. A virtual event open to everyone which will feature Prof Jack Shonkoff of Harvard’s Center on the Developing Child, Gov DeWine of Ohio, Gov Lujan Grisham of New Mexico and various other experts and policymakers.   The Summit is presented by the Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center at The University...

Jeffrey is a Washington DC-based philanthropist who’s been practising Transcendental Meditation (TM) for more than 40 years and he’s a Co-Founder of the Rona and Jeffrey Abramson Foundation.   He started thinking about improving the world when he was just 8 years old. He knew he wanted to end suffering and he wanted the solution to be one thing that could be given to people everywhere to change th...

Practical Action is an innovative international development organisation; their Patron is Prince Charles, HRH The Prince of Wales, and they partner with diverse organisations including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the IKEA Foundation and DFID – the UK’s Department for International Development.   The organisation is comprised of various entities, which include a charity running projects in...

United Way is the world’s largest privately funded non-profit organisation. It is 133 years old, has 3 million volunteers, 8 million donors and operates across 40 countries – including the UK where they’ve had a presence since 2014. Last year it raised around $5 billion.   United Way Worldwide is a social franchise; it owns the brand and sets rules on financial reporting, governance, ethics and in...

  Humanity & Inclusion exists to support people with disabilities and vulnerable people who are affected by poverty, conflict, disaster and exclusion to achieve their rights and live in dignity.   They were founded in 1982, initially supporting victims of landmines who were fleeing to Thailand from Cambodia.   Today, Humanity & Inclusion is active in 60 countries.  It is a federated network with m...

  Plan International is a global charity operating in more than 50 countries. It was established in 1937 and strives to ensure the rights of children and equality for girls.  Several decades ago, it established the ‘sponsor a child’ model, which successfully supports the local communities where these children live.   We hear how Plan International engages with a truly broad and global range of par...

The Foundation focuses on global, social and environmental concerns, particularly in helping the most disadvantaged.  In 2019, the Oak Foundation made 377 grants, to 342 organisations in 37 countries, totalling around $300m.    The Foundation backs a wide range of initiatives focused on the environment, housing and homelessness, international human rights, issues affecting women, learning differen...

An insightful conversation on serendipity, success and leveraging opportunities to improve the world. We explore how to breakdown the barriers to serendipity, spotting opportunities, connecting the dots, and turning serendipitous encounters into opportunities for success. Christian Busch is an expert in entrepreneurship, social innovation, and purpose-driven business. He teaches at New York Univer...

  The Foundation was founded in 2003 and focuses on school readiness; they invest approximately 10m Swiss Francs (roughly US $10m at the time of writing) annually supporting children to transition into school. UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4.2 is a key reference for their work, aspiring to ensure that by 2030: all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care and...

Peter Jones is one of the UK's best known entrepreneurs and in 2005 he founded the Peter Jones Foundation to improve the socio economic outcomes for young people by helping them develop enterprise skills. They aim to ensure at least 60% of the young people they work with come from disadvantaged backgrounds. This wide-ranging conversation introduces listeners to the Foundation's various initiatives...

World University Service of Canada (WUSC) is a Canada-based organisation dedicated to expanding education, economic and empowerment leadership opportunities for youth in Canada and around the world, with a particular focus on refugees, displaced youth and young women.  WUSC has its origins in the 1920s and today has a team of approximately 15 staff in Canada and a strong presence in the frontlines...

Spring Impact is a registered charity in the UK and a 501(c)(3) in the USA. They help other charities and innovative organisations of various sizes and degrees of experience to scale up, replicate and increase their impact. Dan sheds light on his professional trajectory and highlights how he learned a great deal by observing the likes of McDonald’s and Oxfam. Unlike many commercial advisory firms,...

ACEVO is a network of more than 1,400 CEOs and aspiring chief executives based in the UK. They represent members from organisations across all sizes. They are a charity themselves and aim to ensure the leaders they serve are able to make the most impact possible. They support leaders and, in turn, these leaders inspire their own organisations. ACEVO helps CEOs be the best they can be. Vicky sheds...

Debbie sheds light on how Sage – a business solutions company and accounting software developer – launched the Sage Foundation five years ago. She was instrumental in launching the foundation which, today, entices more than 13,000 Sage colleagues to volunteer their time (last year, they volunteered an aggregate of 31,000 days), works with 300 charities at any given time, and supports local communi...

Carol became Chief Executive of Coram in April 2007 and was awarded a CBE in 2013 for her contribution to services for children and families.  Carol sheds light on the charitable work of Coram in supporting the rights, welfare and education of children throughout its 280 year history.  She speaks of its Founder, Thomas Coram, describing his life and passion to help children. The conversation explo...

Sanj starts off by providing an overview of ShelterBox’s origins; from a small outfit conceived 20 years ago in Cornwall, UK, to a global NGO providing disaster relief on the ground and via remote technical assistance.  It has only been a few days since super cyclone Amphan made landfall in Bangladesh and eastern India, and the latest estimates are that 10 million people have been impacted and 500...

  This episode follows from an earlier episode of The Do One Better! Podcast featuring Matt Reed, which aired in October 2019. It is worth listening to that episode in conjunction with this one. This conversation sheds light on the Aga Khan Foundation and the Aga Khan Development Network at a global level and provides tangible insight to their work in India. Matt Reed is CEO of the Aga Khan Founda...

Home for Good is the charity Krish founded 5 years ago, which came out of his own family’s experience of fostering and adopting.   We hear how in the UK there’s a shortage of foster carers and adoptive parents; in the USA there are over 110,000 children who are in the care system waiting to be adopted and are ready for families. Globally, there’s a whole issue on how we care for children.   In the...

We hear how five venture capitalists met in London approximately 15 years ago and explored how philanthropy could embrace more of an entrepreneurial spirit, and how venture capital assets could blend with philanthropy assets. Those were the origins of the EVPA.   There are many ways of defining venture philanthropy, and Steven likes to think about it along three dimensions: 1) yes, giving is good...

The organisation was founded in 2016 by the Secretary General of the United Nations; its Board includes the head of UNICEF and the head of the World Health Organisation (WHO). It is a public-private collaboration that includes UN agencies, governments, industry and others.  They have more than 400 members.   Collectively, they want to raise awareness, catalyse leadership commitments, mobilise reso...