Turning philanthropy into a spectator sport

 The Funding Network’s 10th anniversary event raised £40,000. Tom Levitt explains how the donations will help worthy causes.

… there is a strong community feeling and the passions of the givers are genuine. “We can achieve more by giving together than we can by giving alone“, is tangible.

Read Tom’s article in The Guardian Professional.  Former MP Tom Levitt is author of Gower’s Partners for Good

Why charities are best equipped to take a longer view of service delivery

Respecting the slower nature of charities is part of the process of understanding them, says consultant Tom Levitt. His article, in Guardian Professional,  argues that the slower, evolutionary momentum of the voluntary sector distinguishes it from the fast-paced, “quick buck” attitude of the private sector.

Tom is the author of  Partners for Good: Business, Government and the Third Sector - available July 2012

Taking Responsibility through Your Projects

In this month’s issue of PM World Today, A.J.Gilbert Silvius and Ron Schipper offer a perspective on project management that, whilst not entirely new, is still paradoxically something of a rarity: the role of projects and project managers in business sustainability. I say, paradoxically because given the function of projects to deliver business change, you’d have thought they would be the standard bearers of sustainable practice. Let’s hope that Gilbert and Ron’s work will strike a chord and provide a catalyst to enable projects to assume that role. Gilbert Silvius and Ron Schipper are authors of the forthcoming Gower book, Sustainability in Project Management.

Partners for Good – What Future of Partnerships between Charities and Business?

Tom Levitt’s piece ‘Shall We Dance’ on the Charities Direct website is an excellent guide for both partners in these arrangements (the charities and the businesses) and provides you with the basis to reflect on whether to get together, why and with whom. Read it and take the opportunity to join the dance – it may well be that this kind of partnership is just what your organization needs in these changing times. Tom Levitt is author of the forthcoming Gower book - Partners for Good: Business, Government and the Third Sector.

What’s your plan for the planet?

I always think that a good book is one that provides you with the incentive and the opportunity to act. Ian Chambers and John Humble’s Developing a Plan for the Planet does just that, not least because the accompanying website provides you with instructions and the means to create your own business plan for the planet which you can upload and share with others.

Four leadership approaches to engagement

The reason why John Smythe is one of the most successful commentators on the whole subject of employee engagement is surely down to his ability to express ideas in ways which seem intuitive and yet, often, profound. In this article he explains his four leadership approaches to engaging employees in strategy and change. John Smythe is a co-founder of Engage for Change and author of The CEO – Chief Engagement Officer: Turning Hierarchy Upside Down to Drive Performance.

Wealth, Welfare and the Global Free Market

In free, competitive markets no one should be able to influence prices by their will.  But of course many forms of fixing prices exists. 

In Chapter 4 – The Market Guidance of the Economy Professor Ozer Ertuna explains how markets guide the economy in theory and practice by presenting the assumptions and the models of the theory.

Professor Ertuna is the author of Wealth, Welfare and the Global Free Market

Award for corporate social responsibility

The IVCA Clarion Awards are the world’s only awards promoting CSR, sustainable development, social inclusion and ethical debate. And I am delighted that Mark Wright’s Gower Handbook of Internal Communication has been given an award, under the printed material category, for its contribution to public sector communication. It’s very gratifying to see the value of this book recognised, not least because IVCA still champion books as a form of communication, alongside the more glamorous forms of media that they recognise; everything from videos and advertising to live events and viral marketing.

Corporate Governance – Responsibilities of the Board

The board should represent the interest of the company and look after the shareholder interests of corporate performance, generated profit and realized dividend. The board becomes a platform for balancing shareholders and stakeholders expectations, for discussing corporate strategy, for resolving shareholder conflicts and fights, for electing executives and formulating compensation policy. Moreover, worldwide discussions provide evidence for the common understanding that board members should be highly skilled experienced professionals with high morale and that they are responsible and accountable, since the performance and even existence of the company lies in the board members’ hands, more precisely in the work and advice they deliver and monitoring they exert. This chapter from A Handbook of Corporate Governance and Social Responsibility analyzes the key role and importance of the board in the corporate governance structure depicted in national systems. It discusses the duties and responsibilities of the board referring to two existing models of control.