How to manage the art of giving

Private Swiss bank Lombard Odier's philanthropy expert talks about the need for professional support when it comes to managing philanthropic funds.

Luc Giraud-Guigues, senior philanthropy advisor at Lombard Odie. Jaime Puebla / The National

Luc Giraud-Guigues, the senior philanthropy adviser at the private Swiss bank Lombard Odier, visited Dubai recently to learn about philanthropic trends in the region and how the donors here are motivated. The Fondation Philanthropia was created by Lombard Odier in 2008 to support philanthropic activities of private donors and manage their charitable funds. In 2012, the foundation gave 5 million Swiss francs (Dh20.77m) to 50 projects. Humanitarian and social causes accounted for 47 per cent of the total donations, followed by culture and education, medical and scientific research and the environment and sustainable development. The Geneva-based Mr Giraud-Guigues talks about the business of managing charitable funds.

What kind of charities and causes do you donate to?

The projects can be active in scientific research and youth employment among others. The syndicate of donors can donate to five topics: Social and humanitarian causes, education and training, art and culture, medical and scientific research, and environment and sustainable development. Donors select the topics, but we select the organisations. Last year, we gave to 35 organisations. Sometimes the donations are earmarked, sometimes not. Also, sometimes the donors want to have a personalised fund for a targeted topic.

How much money have you helped channelise?

We have 40 donors in the syndicate, and 100m francs has come into the Fondation Philanthropia since 2008. We have spent or pledged a third of it already. The bank has core clientele from Switzerland, France and Italy. We also have some donors from Lebanon as well as those who are not from here but based in the region such as the ones from the subcontinent. But donations are not necessarily public [in this region].

Why is there a need for professional support when it comes to giving money to charitable causes?

For some people giving is a passion in life. But it can be overwhelming, and they don’t know where to start, such as deciding whether to give locally or internationally, would they want to take out personal time for this or delegate the work. Professional support helps prioritise your need as a donor. Some donors have impressive track records. For some, it is a personal satisfaction or they want to pass values to their children. Professional support helps to find the meaningful niche for the donors; you sit down and narrow down to the problem that is close to their heart and the way they can intervene, and then select the beneficiary organisations, doing due diligence, monitoring their actions, getting more reporting from the organisations, and also deciding do we need to create an outside foundation [for the donations].

What checks do you carry out on the organisations you give to?

We check whether they are staffed enough, their governance, do they get public funds, and measure the impact of our funds. The criteria for the renewal of the funding includes the willingness of the donor and quality of the organisation’s reporting, such as whether they have reached the target and if not, why not, and a structured explanation of that. Sometimes, it is a capacity issue for the organisations if they can’t meet the target and we give grants to build capacity.

What topics are donors most interested in?

Scientific research, especially cancer research, is on top of the mind as is education and childhood welfare. A few donors, a minority, are specifically interested in diabetes and Alzheimer’s research. Sometimes, the donors can be a bit more precise, such as what changes they want to see [with their money] or improving the support system for say patients of Parkinson’s disease. A lot of donors are interested in improving access to education in poor countries. For the past three years, we have been supporting a Bangladeshi organisation, which operates a floating school for those times when certain areas are flooded. They also train teachers and compliment it with basic health care.

How much do you charge for the advise and the services?

The advisory fees are 300 francs per hour for junior consultants and 450 francs per hour for senior consultants. When a donor joins the Fondation Philanthropia, there is a flat fee every year of 0.75 per cent of the donation. But the joining fee decreases if the donation is more than 10 million francs.

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