Live on Clinton from the Slate 60 Convening

President Clinton transported the discussion of private philanthropy's role in driving global solutions  to an uber-macro level in his luncheon comments (listen to the podcast) at the Slate Conference this afternoon. This "citizen of the world" drew from a stunning array of global experiences, relationships and initiatives as he outlined his framework for what private philanthropy has unprecedented power to do including:

1. Build more partnerships in the most interdependent era in human history, with the attendant strains and opportunities created by inequality (haves and have nots globally), instability (growing sense of vulnerability), and un-sustainability (resource depletion)
2. Build the strength of international organizations to foster partnerships and reduce the likelihood of use of force in problem solving
3. Support relentless self-improvement efforts in economic well-being to reduce economic uncertainty in wealthy countries and reduce the transience of gains in developing countries
4.Create a critical mass of people across the globe with an understanding of and commitment to join together and get things done, building on unprecedented resources from: 
    a. Significant concentration of new wealth of people who increasingly understand the need to give
    b. Increased capacity of ordinary people to direct funds via the Internet, collectively dwarfing the investments of even the largest individual donors
    c. Explosion of NGOs globally
    d. Invasion of entrepreneurs to the NGO sector, practitioners and funders
5. Be messengers of modern awareness and consciousness of what needs to be done and support freedom from the "shackles on imagination" to accomplish it

Many present had to agree that, with the type of leadership and leverage that has been modeled and inspired by Clinton himself, private individuals, through their companies, foundations, and innovative cross-sector partnerships, do have more power to affect change than ever before. Many are likely to take up his challenge to the group, which was, given this framework, how would you chart the course of philanthropy over the next decade?

Carla E. Dearing