European Venture Philanthropy Association

The European Venture Philanthropy Association was set up in 2004 funded by Private Equity companies: Barclays Private Equity Limited, 3i, KPMG and LLP with Hill & Knowlton as 'Communications Partner.'

People

Founding Trustees:

• Luciano Balbo: Italian, founder of B&S Private Equity, one of the leading Italian Private Equity groups. Founder of Fondazione Oltre, the first Venture Philanthropy group in Italy.
• Stephen Dawson: One of the first venture capitalists in the UK, with over 25 years in the industry and the last 19 at ECI. Founder of Impetus Trust the first general Venture Philanthropy Fund in the UK.
• Michiel de Haan: Dutch, 30 years in Finance and Venture Capital, founder of Atlas Venture, former Chairman of EVCA, Advisory Board Member of Social Venture Capital Foundation, a Venture Philanthropy group in the Netherlands.
• Doug Miller, Chairman: American, 25 years in UK, 32 years in Investment Banking and Private Equity. Founder of International Private Equity Limited, a fund placement boutique. Founder Trustee of Impetus Trust in the UK.
• Serge Raicher: French, 15 years in private equity. Former Secretary General of EVCA and since 2000, Partner at Pantheon Ventures, a leading private equity fund of funds. Member of Toolbox asbl, a philanthropy group in Belgium.
• Luc Tayart de Boms: The Managing Director, King Baudouin Foundation, Brussels, was born in 1957, Beerse, Belgium. He holds a Master's degree in Moral Sciences from the University of Ghent. A practitioner with more than 20 years experience, he participates in several organisations, including the European Foundation Centre as president (June 2000-June 2002)and vice-president (June 2002-2004), the Council on Foundations, US, as a member of the Board of Directors (2002-2005) and as a member of the International Committee of the Council on Foundations. He is a member of the Global Foundation Leaders Advisory Group at Davos and President of the Network of European Foundations for Innovative Cooperation. Mr de Borms is also a member of the Advisory Council of the European Policy Centre, member of the board of the European Cultural Foundation and Treasurer of the King Baudouin Foundation United States.

The EVPA retains a number of consultants to assist in its development, who together with the trustees form the executive team, staff incude.

• Rob John: Oxford University, followed by university posts in the USA, Switzerland and Ethiopia. Then worked for 15 years in refugee and international development throughout Africa and Asia. This period included managing emergency programmes in Sudan, Iraq and Eritrea; the repatriation of Cambodian refugees; community development in Vietnam and helping create a microfinance bank in Zambia. In 2000 he became Executive Director of WIN, a UK based foundation, arguably the earliest known example of a Venture philanthropy fund. In 2004 he advised Ashoka on the launch of its UK programme, and since 2005 has been a freelance consultant and Fellow of the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. He is currently chief advisor to the European Venture Philanthropy Association, and consults with a number of venture philanthropy funds and social enterprises. He is on the board of an Oxford based educational charity and is a member of the steering group for UnLtd Ventures. He is President of the Social Entrepreneurship Network of the Saïd Business School alumni. Rob was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 2000.
• Susan Mackenzie: is a UK-based independent consultant in the philanthropy and social investment sectors. Her work includes strategy formulation, marketing to donors and investors, charity evaluation, and social impact assessment. In addition to her client work, which has included EVPA members, she is Editor of A Guide to Giving 2nd ed. (2005), a handbook for philanthropists, and is a member of the Editorial Board of the Philanthropy UK Newsletter. She contributed to Why Rich People Give (2004), the first major British study into the wealthy and their giving patterns, experiences and expectations. Susan also has worked as a consultant for the New Economics Foundation (nef), a 'think-and-do' tank, where she focussed on social impact evaluation of a variety of charities, social enterprises and businesses. She earned an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business, where she specialized in non-profit management, and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.