Thammasat University students are cordially invited to participate in a free online seminar, Talking Philanthropy, cohosted by the Centre for Strategic Philanthropy (CSP) at the Cambridge University Judge Business School and The Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP) at the National University of Singapore.
The event will take place on Friday 14 May 2021 from 1pm to 6:30pm Bangkok time.
The Thammasat University Library collection includes several books about different aspects of philanthropy.
As TU students known, philanthropy refers to private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life. Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material gain, and government efforts, which are public initiatives for public good.
A person who practices philanthropy is a philanthropist.
The term philanthropy derives from ancient Greek words meaning love of humanity, so a philanthropist is someone who loves humanity.
Philanthropy is considered to be different from charity, insofar as charity tries to relieve the results of social problems, while philanthropy tries to address their causes.
The 14 May presentations will focus on health, environment and education as well as wealth distribution and the growth of ultra high net worth individuals (HNWI) in the Asia/Pacific region, the roles of development organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), governments, philanthropists, and the charity sector in advancing the philanthropic ecosystem.
To register for the event, students are invited to write to the following email address:
communications@globalphilanthropic.com
Among lecture subjects will be The Philanthropy of Chinese Ultra-High-Net-Worth Families; Contextualizing current philanthropy trends in China; Current research into the trends in philanthropy across Asia-Pacific; Philanthropy and COVID-19: Is the North-South Power Balance Finally Shifting?; and a Case study on the Covid-19 Solidarity Response Fund by the United Nations Foundation, among others.
Academic research
As effective philanthropy is a complex subject involving sociology, political science, economics, and other fields of study, academic research has been useful in understanding the different issues it raises, as reports in the Bangkok Post and Alliance Magazine suggest.
An article was published in 2017, Moving Beyond Charity to Philanthropy? The Case of Charitable Giving in Thailand in the Austrian Journal of South-East Asian Studies.
As its website indicates,
The Austrian Journal of South-East Asian Studies (ASEAS) is an international, interdisciplinary and open access social sciences journal covering a variety of topics (culture, economics, geography, politics, society) from both historical and contemporary perspectives. Topics should be related to Southeast Asia, but are not restricted to the geographical region, when spatial and political borders of Southeast Asia are crossed or transcended, e.g., in the case of linguistics, diaspora groups or forms of socio-cultural transfer. ASEAS publishes two focus issues per year and we welcome out-of-focus submissions at any time. The journal invites both established as well as young scholars to present research results and theoretical and methodical discussions, to report about on-going research projects or field studies, to publish conference reports, to conduct interviews with experts in the field, and to review relevant books. Articles can be submitted in German or English.
The article is by Natalie Phaholyothin, former Associate Director at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Asia Regional Office and more recently chief executive officer of World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF) Thailand.
At WWF Thailand, Khun Natalie uses her experience in global health to help WWF contribute to the Kingdom’s transition toward a sustainable future combining the protection of the environment and economic development.
The abstract of her article follows:
This paper outlines the characteristics of the philanthropic sector in Thailand today. It first describes the local concept of giving, which is intricately linked to Theravada Buddhism. Then, the paper provides examples of traditional forms of philanthropic institutions that are more closely associated with charity than philanthropy, followed by examples of innovative forms of philanthropic efforts. Given the trajectory of economic development in Thailand, opportunities to engage broader public interest in philanthropy exist and in order to do so, there is need for the sector in general to build stronger evidence of how public giving is translated into social impact. The main challenge to the Thai philanthropic sector is the limited attention to accountability and transparency, as philanthropic entities generally have not developed robust monitoring and evaluation frameworks that target outcomes. This can be turned into an opportunity to address the general lack of focus on strategy development, weak monitoring systems, and a limited reporting of outcomes.
The article begins,
Not much has been written about the evolution of charitable giving in Thailand from traditional practices related to religious giving to corporate and social giving today. There are very few scholarly works that have studied philanthropic activities in Thailand (Wattanasiritham, 2007). Two underlying reasons may be behind the sparse literature on the philanthropic sector in Thailand: 1) The understanding of philanthropy as a sector or a professional area of expertise is at a nascent stage, and 2) there are few examples of local organizations operating in a manner that qualifies as philanthropy as practiced in North America and Western Europe. The purpose of this paper is to provide a general overview of the context of charitable giving in Thailand, and to analyze the current landscape of charitable giving with examples of emerging forms of socially conscious entities working towards the betterment of Thai society.
It concludes, in part:
As examples in this paper illustrate, various philanthropic efforts attempt to create innovative social development programs that have positive impacts on the lives of their target groups. Yet, a major challenge to realize such an impact is the lack of measuring tools and initiatives. A key concern that has to be addressed with this regard is the deeply rooted attitude of Thai society that charity is the act of giving without the need or concern for anything in return. This mindset is a cultural and religious construct, originating in Thai traditions, and translating into the practice of giving as an end in itself, without expecting anything in return. Transforming this deeply engrained mindset will require changes amongst all actors of the charity-philanthropy sector in Thailand. From the corporate world, this will imply thinking of CSR and corporate charities differently. CSR programs will have to be seen as contributions to address social issues that add value to society, rather than specific events with little sustained impact for the beneficiaries. Accompanying this change will necessitate systematic monitoring and evaluation frameworks that are utilized by the management. Such changes normally do not happen at mid-management level and thus, senior executives with the authority to implement the change will have to lead this transformation. How to incentivize the growing number of wealthy individuals to engage in philanthropy is a potentially interesting topic for Thai think-tanks, research institutes, and business schools to explore. Small charities and NGOs in Thailand will have to adapt in an ever-evolving funding ecosystem where competition is coming from new types of organizations such as social enterprises. Setting up concrete and measurable goals with accountability measures is a strategic investment that builds trust with existing and potential funders. Think-tanks and the media can play a critical role as public watchdogs for greater accountability and transparency in the religious charitable sector, which will reinforce the need for accountability within the non-religious sector as well…
(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)