Funder’s Forum: Stavros Niarchos Foundation A conversation with Andreas Dracopoulos

The Stavros Niarchos Foundation is an international organization. We are actively involved in grantmaking efforts around the globe, and we have provided grants to 110 countries worldwide. By definition of our international presence many of our initiatives have as a direct consequence the strengthening of relations between Greece and other countries and the advancement of broad and lasting collaborations.

“We start with two very basic, perhaps simple, but fundamental questions: ‘Does a project add value to society, and are we collaborating with a trustworthy and effective partner?’ There is, of course, a thorough due process that we follow about every project and the crucial issues of strong leadership; sound management; and of achieving a broad, lasting and positive social impact, as well as positive multiplier effects. But everything starts with these two first essential questions. Furthermore, through our three offices in Greece, Western Europe and the U.S., we have the unique ability and opportunity to identify effective collaborative efforts both at a local and an international level. We are an international foundation, but our founder’s wishes guide us to direct at least 50 percent of our grantmaking support to projects in Greece. This is another element that we take into consideration as we evaluate potential collaborative efforts. We value partnerships that maintain best practices and exhibit a know-how that can consequently help our grantmaking efforts in Greece be as effective as possible. We also support projects that are based on public-private partnerships, such as the foundation’s largest grant, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center in Athens.

“We live and work in a very complicated world. The needs, both on a domestic and a global level, are too many, too large, and too complex for any one of us to believe or try to address them on our own. No philanthropic organization can do that, and the same applies to the private and public sectors. It is only through the notion of a social welfare society — a society defined by the collaboration of the private, the public, and the philanthropic sectors — that we can dream of being truly effective. Grantmaking colleagues can help us build bridges and strengthen ties both by pointing us toward supporting worthy efforts globally that by definition of capacity we cannot know and reach on our own, and through collaborations which allow us to implement a greater number of projects.”

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