I'll be speaking tomorrow with a couple of program officers at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, a private philanthropy founded by Greek shipping magnate Stavros Niarchos before his death in 1996. While I'm with them, I hope to gain some fresh insights, informed by a non-U.S. perspective, into the Greek sovereign debt crisis, its impact on the lives of ordinary Greeks, and its effect (if any) on philanthropy in Greece.
Here are a few questions I plan to ask:
- Greece is at the epicenter of the European sovereign debt crisis. How did it get into the mess it finds itself in?
- Can you give us a sense of what the crisis has meant for the average person in Greece?
- Has it undermined their support for the eurozone? Has it undermined their faith in democracy?
- Has the crisis affected the way the Greek people view their wealthy compatriots, in general, and philanthropy specifically?
- What are your best guesses as to how the crisis will be resolved? Are the Greek people in a frame of mind to embrace years of austerity? What are the chances that Greece will end up leaving the eurozone?
- Will philanthropy in Greece come out of this crisis stronger or will it be diminished in the eyes of the Greek people?
What else should I ask? Share your thoughts in the comments section below...
-- Mitch Nauffts
