Briefing No. 45
Before we dive in…. Greenwood Place has been named as one of the UK’s best employers in The Sunday Times Best Places to Work 2025.
We're delighted!
What we’re reading
On the Greenwood Place Bedside Table
Is A River Alive?
Robert Macfarlane spent five years researching and writing Is A River Alive? At its heart is a single, transformative idea: that rivers are not a mere matter for human use, but living beings – who should be recognised as such in both imagination and law.
INVISIBLE HANDS
“I remember 1974 well. The government introduced a three-day week. Power cuts were common - we would be plunged into darkness without warning…” David Dimbleby’s short series traces the history of the free market revolution and the invisible hands that shaped it.
DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU WANT TO PRESERVE FOR THE NEXT GENERATION?
We were delighted when community leader and Greenwood Place partner Ndinini Kimesera Sikar was invited to deliver a TED Talk this year. Drawing on her experience growing up in a family of 38 in a traditional Maasai village in Tanzania — where every chore was shared, every story was sung and belonging meant survival — Ndinini explores how we can blend the old with the new to build the life we want, encouraging us all to ponder our list of "must-haves" for the future.
20 YEARS TO GIVE AWAY VIRTUALLY ALL MY WEALTH
In case you missed it, the Gates Foundation will double its giving this year - closing its doors permanently on 31st December 2045. Bill Gates lays out the thought process behind his decision in this open letter.
WHAT DO GOVERNMENTS SPEND MONEY ON
Governments around the world vary considerably in size, even after accounting for underlying differences in economic activity and population. They also differ in terms of how they prioritise spending. Visit the Our World in Data site to learn more.
TREES
Natascha McElhone narrates this beautiful letter by Herman Hesse on a walk through Kew Gardens in London: “For me trees have always been the most penetrating preachers.”
OCEANS
Oceana UK, a Greenwood Place grantee partner, estimate that 90% of the UK’s marine protected areas (MPAs) are open to bottom trawling -undergoing more than 20,000 hours of suspected bottom trawling in 2024. If you have watched David Attenborough's new film, Ocean (if you haven't, we recommend getting a ticket and watching it on the big screen) you will have a sense of what this means for marine life.
PROGRESSIVE ACTIVISTS
Britain’s politics is increasingly fragmenting. Playing a distinctive role in this is a group that More in Common calls ‘Progressive Activists’ – the group of highly educated, politically engaged Britons who make up one tenth of the population but are significantly overrepresented in online political debates and in the charity sector. Our friends at Pears Foundation have supported a fascinating report by More in Common which takes a detailed look into the worldviews and attitudes of “Progressive Activists”.
AND FINALLY... REAL-TIME AI VOICE TRANSLATION
Google Meet can now translate a foreign language in real-time. Google is starting with English and Spanish, with more languages coming in the next few weeks. At Greenwood Place, we're super excited about the potential for us to speak more easily to grantee partners for whom English is a second or third language.
Pathways to change
We’re starting to recruit participants for Pathways to Change - a year of highly interactive educational and community building opportunities where participating philanthropists will learn more about what it takes for everyone to have the chance to lead a healthy and productive life, no matter where they are born. If you’d like to find out more please let us know. A deep thank you to the Gates Foundation for making this possible.
HOW CAN WE HELP YOU?
Greenwood Place provides philanthropy support, advice and execution for a small group of strategic philanthropists. We take an entrepreneurial approach to tackling tough social and environmental problems. We work closely with our clients to find the places where they can make the most difference, we support their learning and we partner with them to achieve real, lasting change.
The Greenwood is the place in Shakespeare's plays where characters go to grow, change and learn.