Meet our UBS Transform Collective member, Neena Vaswani, Co-Founder of Prodigy Snacks, as she shares more on what she’s learning about impactful philanthropy and working with others to drive the change she’s passionate about - children being raised in loving families.

Rising Academies | Africa

Meet social entrepreneur and UBS Optimus Foundation partner Paul Skidmore and learn how he’s bringing quality to thousands of classrooms in Africa to create the best schools for those who need them most.

Companies across the entire economy emit about three quarters of carbon dioxide globally, says Business Leader Peter Bakker. So, naturally they have a crucial role to play on the decarbonization path. With their innovation potential they are also well placed to advance the transition.

Consumers' demand of sustainable products and transparency plays an important role in transitioning to a more sustainable economy. But as Business Leader Peter Bakker explains, companies also need to be more vocal about their sustainable business practices.

Sustainability doom-and-gloom stories are not the right tool to advance discussions and solutions on climate change. Instead we need to think of the climate transition as the greatest opportunity we currently have says Business Leader Peter Bakker.

Humans depend on the planet to live, not the other way around, explains Prof. Katharine Hayhoe. Therefore, the climate scientist advocates that we all take agency and that each of us acts with little steps that will add up to have a large impact together.

Climate change requires bold action and solutions that address planetary and human suffering says Prof. Katharine Hayhoe. These are also economic problems and that is why the climate scientist things impact investing is central to success.

Profit per se is not a bad thing says Prof. Sir Partha Dasgupta, but the economist also explains that we need to be able to measure a more comprehensive set of factors to assess who benefits from the acquired profit and who pays for it, whether it is the planet or its people.

A long-term view on progress and investing is key to balance people, planet, and profit. Fiona Reynolds, the pension fund expert, says this is the responsibilities of all citizens, businesses, and investors and transparency is especially important to achieve this. 

Serious institutional change in our economic system is vital to better account for the implications of our economic actions on nature says Prof. Sir Partha Dasgupta. But it is also about making the issue of climate change and biodiversity loss more personal and tangible for people to care.

We need to embed the human existence into the biosphere and understand the implications our economic actions have on nature says Prof. Sir Partha Dasgupta. The environmental economist thinks this is also important to understand the concept of inclusive wealth. 

‘State of Philanthropy’ introduces five key topics that are central to our philanthropic approach namely: ‘Innovation’, ‘Scale’, ‘Collaboration’, ‘Measurement’, and ‘Risk-Taking’. All of these themes are explored in the context of trust-based philanthropy, COVID-19 and their parallels to Neglected Tropical Diseases. Join Sarah Salomon, Head of Group Sustainability and Impact (GSI) Americas, UBS for a conversation with Bernadette Moffat, Executive Director of the ELMA Philanthropies Services (Africa), and Ellen Agler, CEO of the END Fund.

We explore the unique opportunity of combining financial sophistication and knowhow with good intentions. Because if we really want to achieve development goals that are measurable and scalable, we need to harness the power of the private sector. And social and blended finance are key to getting us there. Join Phyllis Kurlander Costanza, former Head of Social Impact and CEO, UBS Optimus Foundation for a conversation with Safeena Husain, Founder and Executive Director, Educate Girls, and Priya Sharma, Managing Director, Scalable Innovation, Private Sector Engagement Hub, USAID.

Your philanthropy can be effective on its own, but by pooling funds and expertise with fellow philanthropists and delivering aligned outcomes, you reinforce each other’s efforts, and achieve exponentially more impact. We believe by working together as a driver of change, we can mobilize the power of collective partnerships among philanthropists, organizations, and governments. Our speakers share their experiences working with other philanthropists, as well as their motivations for and challenges in joining collectives. Tune in to this session moderated by Tom Hall, Global Head Social Impact and Philanthropy, UBS for an insightful discussion with Neera Nundy, Managing Partner and Co-founder, DASRA and Sumitra Aswani, Executive Director, IshK Tolaram Foundation.