Give more money to think-tanks, says think-tank director

Finance | Daniel Phelan | 18 Nov 2010

Phillip Blond, director of think-tank ResPublica, has called for more philanthropic support to influence the political agenda.

Speaking at the European Venture Philanthropy Association conference in Luxembourg yesterday, Blond (pictured) said that “politics should be the primary area in which philanthropists do their work” and that “that most systemic change in Britain has come through think-tanks”.

Blond maintained that most philanthropy was focused on areas “thrice removed” from politics and that “the primary focus needs to be politics to achieve systemic change”.

Although claiming think-tanks are not lobbyists and do not need to be politically partisan, Blond said that “to effect change you have to be politically relevant to politicians”. He went on to say that “political lobbying simply doesn’t work” and that, “while politicians are polite, they are immune to it” and they “simply can’t deal with the host of need – the help me, help me, help me of special pleading”.

Think-tanks, he said, “invest in ideas themselves” which are a “common resource for all humanity, non-partisan and relevant to all parties”.

Pointing out that a lot of ResPublica’s ideas underlie the Big Society, Blond maintained that “the whole question in government is how do we create that mass culture of giving?” He went on to suggest that one method might be to “create a symbol of giving” that allowed people to recognise others that engage in philanthropic activity.

And he said that ResPublica planned to set up an associated charitable foundation.

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