On the Mutuality of Thriving
Dear Greater Share community,
As we begin the Autumn season, I have been reflecting on mutual thriving and Greater Share’s model of philanthropy. I think one of the more remarkable aspects of our model is how it significantly shares with society while still growing individual wealth. So much of philanthropy is marginal, and too much of our collective narrative around wealth has been ‘make a lot and share a little.’ Greater Share’s model is upending that narrative and offering a new one: Our gains can be mutually shared, and we can grow wealth together.
This quarter, we have focused our attention on continuing to grow our community and have emphasized you as donors who will hopefully, over time, become more engaged in the NGOs in which you have so generously donated 50 percent or more of your gains. In light of our second close in late September, we are pleased to welcome our newest Greater Share community members. We are also reminded of how far we still have to go to reach our fullest potential next Spring.
As the rest of the private equity community is finding, the environment remains challenging, and we have had to scale back some of our expectations. Yet, we remain committed that this endeavor we have embarked on will succeed in achieving our mission of bringing long-term significant funding to our portfolio of education NGOs.
As I noted recently in a podcast with Hugh MacArthur, many of us have an explicit desire to be good stewards of capital. This means not just thinking more purposefully about how we invest for ourselves but also for society as a whole. This is fundamentally why Greater Share exists. Investment rigor is built into the Greater Share model along with the embedded mechanism that when you prosper, society/the greater good is mutually benefiting through our collective stewardship of the share of capital to our NGO partners.
We thank all of you for your generosity, belief in us as stewards of your capital, and partnership in making a better world for us all. We are incredibly grateful to those who go above and beyond to share their engagement with our model for mutual thriving: Bain & Company’s Hugh MacArthur, who in addition to hosting us in his podcast, also featured us in his blog, Private Thoughts from My Desk; founder/board member Graham Elton for his LinkedIn post; and finally, Bain Capital’s John Connaughton for hosting us at a high-level webinar.
Warm regards –
Dana K. Bezerra, CEO
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In case you missed it:
SSIR: A Vision for the Future of Philanthropy. People and planet are demanding that we build a vision for philanthropy, let go of practices that no longer serve us, and create new ones that move us forward, writes Crystal Hayling of the Libra Foundation.
GBCE Report: Education’s Position at the Core of ESG. Positioning education at the core is a useful and impactful way to advance the objectives of companies and investors seeking to achieve better financial outcomes and improve environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance and credibility.
Rand: Much of the Damage in Maui Will Be Invisible, but Very Real. New research sheds light on the impact of natural disasters on student achievement, high school graduation, and college attendance.
Report on ‘Rewiring Education for People and Planet.’ This sweeping Education Commission report discusses the critical need for the global community to transform access to education in order to meet UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.