Ihad the opportunity to meet Matthew Bishop, business editor for The Economist and author of Philanthrocapitalism, at a dinner about the “Future of Philanthropy.” It was fascinating to hear Matt talk about the role of the wealthy and the future of giving.

“People who give are much more likely to come up with the answer … to all the problems the word is facing” than governmnets and politicians are,” he says in this 2 1/2-minute video interview conducted at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

An overview of his book:

“An examination of how today’s leading philanthropists are revolutionizing the field, using new methods to have a vastly greater impact on the world.

“For philanthropists of the past, charity was often a matter of simply giving money away. For the philanthrocapitalists – the new generation of billionaires who are reshaping the way they give – it’s like business. Largely trained in the corporate world, these “social investors” are using big-business-style strategies and expecting results and accountability to match. Bill Gates, the world’s richest man, is leading the way: He has promised his entire fortune to finding a cure for the diseases that kill millions of children in the poorest countries in the world.

“In Philanthrocapitalism, Matthew Bishop and Michael Green examine this new movement and its implications. Proceeding from interviews with some of the most powerful people on the planet—including Gates, Bill Clinton, George Soros, Angelina Jolie, and Bono, among others—they show how a web of wealthy, motivated donors has set out to change the world. Their results will have huge implications: In a climate resistant to government spending on social causes, their focused donations may be the greatest force for societal change in our world, and a source of political controversy.

Combining on-the-ground anecdotes, expert analysis, and up-close profiles of the wealthy and powerful, this is a fascinating look at a small group of people who will change an enormous number of lives.”

More than that, we talked about how young people could explore and get into giving and nonprofits and Matt’s highlights from Davos. It was a real honor to meet him and connect over the next-generation of philanthropy.

This post originally appeared on the MySpace Journal.

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Gina Bianchini is the co-founder and CEO of Ning.com, a platform that hosts more than a million social networks and connects people based on their passions and interests. She took a few minutes to tell me about her experience at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, what she has learned that surprised her and how to stay connected to Davos long after the week is over.

The two campaigns she talks about are the Open Architecture Network, a program Cameron Sinclair, founder of Architecture for Humanity, was telling us about. I hope to catch Cameron to talk about his amazing work and especially the Haiti recovery projects he’s taken on. I encourage you to read his recent piece in The Huffington Post encouraging people to “steal his plan” to help recovery as quick as possible in Haiti.

The second project Gina talks about is the She 28 Campaign, a project that gives women in Rwanda the skills to start their own business making sanitary projects using banana leaves.

So yes, Gina, Cameron and I were talking about menstruation while squeezing in expressos between sessions. And that’s one of the best parts about Davos — that someone knows something about a topic or initiative that I’ve never heard of before and is more than willing to share that information with me so I can look it up later online.

Check out the She 28 Campaign video for yourself:

This post originally appeared on the MySpace Journal.

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Iattended a session about global initiatives being set forth at the World Economic Forum and one of them is a study on the worldwide gender gap led by Laura Tyson, a professor the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, and former chair of the US President’s Council of Economic Advisers during the Clinton administration.

“Half of the world’s innovators are women,” Tyson says.

I was so profoundly impressed and inspired by Professor Tyson. Her resume and credentials match her passion for equality among us all and she reminded me of the type of professor I had in school where you want to get there a few minutes early and sit in the front row. Her perspective and impact on pushing forward how women are treated globally and how we can educate ourselves about equality are something I encourage all of you to explore.

This post originally appeared on the MySpace Journal.

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Let me share something here that I’m not sharing over on the MySpace blogs. Rather let me gush for a second. Davos, Switzerland, is truly spectacular. There is something about an invite-only conference that allows every attendee to walk up to one another and say hi, introduce yourself, make conversation. Everyone who is here has done something special to be here. Sure, there are a few lucky ducks (like myself) who have found their way here, but heads of states and CEOs and global leaders all under one roof make for very interesting conversations.

Which leads me to my next point – the people here care very much. There are a lot of conversations about just about everything you could imagine. Water conservation and sustainable of global fisheries, the future of the Middle East, what the World Cup in South Africa this summer can do to raise awareness of current hot topic issues in Africa, the crisis in Haiti. There are a million things happening in the world right now and chances are someone here is an expert in that field.

There is a dark side here, too. Or rather a pessimism. Last year, nine of the global CEOs of banks were no-shows. They couldn’t, wouldn’t, shouldn’t have shown their faces in the wake of such a catastrophic global financial meltdown and so weren’t here. Last year, the infamous and exclusive parties featuring vertical wine tastings or grand-cru french wines were canceled. It was deemed inappropriate to be lavish and thought to shed a negative light on the conference. CEOs of global companies meet here in Davos, this tucked-away Swiss ski town, and who knows what happens behind closed doors.

But let me say this. There is a line from a TED Talk that I love that goes, “It’s too late to be pessimistic. It’s too late to think we can do nothing. We must look forward to the future. We must look to building something greater than what we have today.”

That is the essence of Davos. Optimism that the work everyone is doing here is inspiring something greater for not just the next generation but 7 generations out. Among these leaders within their communities, I feel as if anything is possible for myself. I feel a freedom to be bold, to keep pushing forward, to have faith in what I believe is my own personal mission in life – helping people discover cause and ways to give back. Here, anything is possible, and if I take away one lesson from Davos, it’s an almost “Santa Claus like spirit” where we believe what we want to believe. And so I choose to believe in hope. I choose to believe in the future. I choose to believe in you.

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