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Nina Smidt at NYU’s Leadership Summit on Global Philanthropy

The Leadership Summit on Global Philanthropy was held at NYU’s Heyman Center for Philanthropy from February 17 – 19, 2011.

Nina Smidt, President of American Friends of Bucerius, participated as a speaker at the workshop on Higher Education Philanthropy.

Event summary:

“Giving in service of others makes fortune meaningful.”-Dame Stephanie Shirley

New York University’s Second Annual Leadership Summit on Global Philanthropy took place in New York City February 17th-19th, 2011. The summit was organized by the Heyman Center for Philanthropy and Fundraising.

Leaders from universities, foundations, museums, libraries and social service agencies took part in the event. Opening the conference, Dame Stephanie Shirley, Ambassador for Philanthropy of the United Kingdom, remarked on the pleasures of giving. The founder of the F. I. Group software company (later called Xansa), Shirley donated most of her more than $240 million to charity.

While giving the introductory remarks, New York University president John Sexton said that the only mistake one can make in fundraising is asking “for too little money”. Under Sexton’s leadership, in 2008 NYU successfully finished the largest completed fundraising campaign in higher education history. With a stated goal of raising $2.5 billion, the Campaign for NYU eventually raised over $3 billion.

The conference touched on the importance of combining both strategic planning and fundraising to meet new and existing philanthropic goals. Nina Smidt was a speaker at the conference and provided participants with both German and broader European perspectives on fundraising.

Conference speakers stressed that philanthropy, like every other aspect of life, has gone global. Many international organizations, which were previously funded by their governments’ organizations, are now looking towards the American model of fundraising. Meanwhile, American organizations are becoming increasingly interested in exploring the fundraising philosophies of their global counterparts.