Philanthropy Impact is issuing a Call for Articles for the Philanthropy Impact Magazine issue 15 which will be published in February 2017.

Articles should address the theme below from the author’s perspective or an author may propose an alternative topic within the theme for this edition. Prior to writing the article please email John Pepin at john.pepin@philanthropy-impact.org with your suggested topic (two to three paragraphs outlining what approach you wish to take).

Deadline for Submission: The deadline to submit full articles is Friday 28 October 2016.

Magazine Working Title: Approaches to Human Rights, Issues and Implications for Philanthropists

Background  

Human rights’ issues and organisations addressing them span the entire spectrum of organisational complexity – from global, multimillion-dollar NGOs to grassroots, community centres.  Rights issues range from those related to LGBT rights to freedom of expression, right to life, women, refugees, religious minorities and animal rights.

It’s big business too: in 2010, the Foundation Centre documented that 703 foundations in 29 countries made over 12,000 grants totalling USD 1.2 billion. The dynamics of human rights philanthropy is shifting, particularly towards investments becoming more focused on human rights actors based in the Global South. To the philanthropist wishing to invest in human rights, the options can be bewildering. 

Potential Questions to Be Addressed

1. What are the different approaches to addressing human rights issues and their impact?  What innovations exist?
2. What are the different approaches/models that philanthropists have taken in this area and what is their effectiveness?
3. In a recent survey commissioned by Philanthropy Impact the 503 HNW and UHNW individuals listed the causes they support and human rights was very near the bottom at 6%.  Why are human rights such a low priority and what is being or can be done to address this?
4. Does the competitive fundraising environment within the sector and with other sectors create challenges? If so what are they and how can they be addressed?
5. Why are human rights important to professional advisers and to philanthropists?
6. What is the role of corporations and their foundations in this area?
7. How important are digital technologies in supporting human rights issues and campaigns?
8. Within the human rights world, how ought philanthropic priorities to be established? Are human rights organisations a good place to invest in order to have a positive social impact in the decades to come?
9. What are the approaches and issues related to measuring impact and how should it be measured?
10. What should the balance be between localism and globalism in addressing human rights issues?
11. Stephen Hopgood in a book entitled ‘the endtimes of human rights’ takes the position that ‘we are on the verge of the imminent decay of the Global Human Rights Regime’.  What are the implications related to this statement for the sector and for philanthropic giving?

Download the Call for articles as a PDF.