Scotland's Philanthropy Debate highlighted the role of local people in making changes to their own communities
The events of 2014 have taught Scotland’s philanthropists that people are willing and able to take control of their own lives.
Speaking at Scotland’s biennial Philanthropy debate, Tom Ward, the chair of Foundation Scotland, said: “For me, one of the most positive things to come out of 2014, was the engagement of people. The sense that people can actually get stuck in and do things themselves.
“Don’t just watch television and be passive and wait for someone else to take responsibility and then maybe moan about it, do something yourself. OK, you can’t solve all the world’s problems, but you can make something better and you can be an advocate for change.”
Ward was responding to the opening question of the Foundation Scotland organised debate on the future of Scottish philanthropy.
I think that goodwill, that desire to get engaged, is actually inherently a Scottish thing
Iain MacRitchie
Fife estate owner and farmer Toby Anstruther agreed that 2014 had highlighted the willingness of people to get involved in their community.
“I think the level of engagement indicated a tremendous willingness and untapped desire to get involved, to have a go,” he told an audience of around 100 people from the worlds of charity and philanthropy. “People have realised that they can make a difference.
“I think one of the questions is whether communities and individuals taking action feel they have to ask for permission or whether they can just go ahead and do it. If they do have to ask permission, then they’re really just doing other people’s bidding, and that’s not community empowerment. Public and Private institutions need to roll-back and let people get on with it.”
Iain MacRitchie, whose MCR Charitable Foundation works with disadvantage young people, said the challenge for everyone, not just philanthropists, is finding a mechanism to harness the innate energy of Scottish people.
“I think that goodwill, that desire to get engaged, is actually inherently a Scottish thing,” he said.
“We have to ask why people got engaged to such an extent in the referendum. It seemed to me it was the immediacy of something, there was an event and a timescale and your vote, your activity could matter.
“The challenge we have is how we recreate things that can engage people. And I think that’s absolutely not a top-down role of government, it has to come from a collection of individuals, like-minded people coming together to try stuff.”
The 90-minute debate was hosted by broadcaster Sally Magnusson, who herself has set up the charity Playlists for Life this year.
It also included contributions from Dr Lena Wilson, chief executive of Scottish Enterprise.
Wilson argued that everyone can and should be and philanthropist.
“It’s not just about philanthropy itself, having that as an end in itself, there’s so much more that can be achieved,” she said. “I think we need to start with those really impressive 16 and 17-year-olds, who had a voice this year. We need to make philanthropy part of our DNA and not just something rich people do.”
Wilson later added: “I don’t come from a landowning, wealthy background but I had philanthropy instilled in me by a working class mother from the moment I could walk and talk.
“If we saw philanthropy as something more inclusive and less exclusive, then I think that would be a very good thing.”
The debate, which was held at Edinburgh’s Assembly Rooms, went on to cover a range of topics from social finance to partnership to the difference between philanthropists and everyday charitable givers.
