Widening the focus

With contributions from around 90 speakers from Greece and abroad across 20 panel discussions, the third SNF International Conference on Philanthropy, as it was then titled, represented an increasingly broad and ambitious iteration of the event that appealed to a wider range of attendees. It focused on three key themes, distinct from one another but all related to grantmaking:

Recharging the Youth: Youth Unemployment and Initiatives to Create New Opportunities for the Young

Philanthropy and Ethics

Arts & Culture: Creative Assets and their Socioeconomic Impact

Shifting the social welfare paradigm

The second Annual SNF International Conference on Philanthropy focused on the Role of Philanthropy within a Social Welfare Society. Covering a range of specific areas from health care accessibility to volunteerism to microfinance, the Conference looked, in practical terms, at how philanthropy might be able to best contribute if we reframe from thinking about “social welfare states” to “social welfare societies.” Speakers included economist Anders Åslund, Greek Minister of Tourism Olga Kefalogianni, and Open Society Foundations founder George Soros.