This is a busy ten days: from Oxford University to Tel Aviv; from San Diego to Jerusalem we've got you covered. Over this week, eJewish Philanthropy will bring you a combination of on the spot coverage, conversations, complete presentations and links. Check back often as we highlight goings on in the world of philanthropy. For those of you with an interest in Social Entrepreneurship or Social Philanthropy, the gathering these past few days of the 5th Annual Skoll World Forum at Oxford University will be of interest. Some background: The Skoll Foundation, was established in 1999 by eBay founder Jeff Skoll in order to promote social entrepreneurship. In 2003, the Foundation established Skoll The Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship ...

Israeli entrepreneur Stef Wertheimer wants to convert the Middle East to capitalism. This Israeli entrepreneur with a mission, has a unique perspective on how to reduce conflict in the Middle East. According to a story in this week's edition of Business Week... "Early on, Stef Wertheimer, the founder of Iscar Metalworking, a manufacturer of industrial precision metal-cutting tools, decided that entrepreneurship was an answer to social and economic problems... During the 1980s, Wertheimer spent four years as a member of the Knesset, Israel's Parliament. It was there that he came to the conclusion that he could accomplish more through industry and entrepreneurship than he ever could through government or politics. An early social entrepreneur (see BusinessWeek.com, 12/14/07), he launched ...

Social-enterprise leaders gathered in Boston this week are seeking a new legal structure — the low-profit, limited liability company, or L3C — as a way to encourage investments by foundations and others in businesses with a social mission, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports: "As the lines between the nonprofit and for-profit worlds blur, social-enterprise leaders continue to look for new legal structures that are better suited to such blended activities than current designations... One proposed legal structure discussed at the meeting — the low-profit, limited liability company, or L3C — is designed to increase the number of program-related investments, or PRI’s, that foundations make in social-purpose businesses by making those enterprises easier to find. Proponents hope that foundation investment in those ventures ...

Being launched this evening in the U.K. is Michael Edwards pamphlet... Just Another Emperor? The Myths and Realities of Philanthrocapitalism From his preface..."A new movement is afoot that promises to save the world by revolutionizing philanthropy, making non-profit organizations operate like business, and creating new markets for goods and services that benefit society. Nick-named “philanthrocapitalism” for short, its supporters believe that business principles can be successfully combined with the search for social transformation. The stakes are very high. Fifty-five trillion dollars in philanthropic resources are expected to be created in the United States alone in the next forty years. It matters whether these vast resources are used to pursue social transformation or just to address the symptoms of global problems. And for the ...

Also speaking at yesterday's inaugural conference at The Center for the Study of Philanthropy in Israel was Professor Baruch Shimoni of Hebrew U. on his recently released paper, Business and New Philanthropy in Israel: Ethnography of Mega Donors. Dr. Shimoni's paper assumes "that philanthropy in Israel is undergoing a process of change, engineered mainly by a new generation of donors with vast experience in the business sector..." Like a number of social innovators we hear about, Dr. Shimoni continues... "It would seem that the members of this group represent a shift from spontaneous, personal, romantic philanthropy based on charity to the poor, to “rational philanthropy” which is characterized by the personal involvement of donors ...