Please join me in Boston’s Seaport District on November 2, along with financial and philanthropic advisors from private firms and non-profit organizations, as I share my passion for international philanthropy. I will discuss with leading experts in global philanthropy the tension between empirical evaluation and donor passion in shaping international giving.

Human Rights in Haiti. October 27, 2011, 5:30-7:00 p.m. The Haiti Fund at the Boston Foundation, 75 Arlington Street, 10th Floor Boston, MA The Haiti Fund at the Boston Foundation invites you to a special conversation with renowned human rights lawyer, Mario Joseph, Managing Attorney at Bureau des Avocats Internationaux, Port-au-Prince.

Pragmatic. Pointed. Always provocative. Jonathan Lewis, Founder of the Opportunity Collaboration in Ixtapa, Mexico welcomed 300 international delegates to a marathon, “roll-up-your-sleeves” convening to cross-pollinate ideas and forge partnerships to end poverty globally. “Because we know multi-disciplinary solutions to poverty are needed,” stated Jonathan,

Last night I wanted to turn away. For starters I was under-dressed. ( I had never seen the invitation.) Second, after a little wine my heart was woefully unguarded. The elegant dinner and animated chatter suddenly shifted to images of shrunken babies and women who had been raped while walking 30 days through

Ravaged by a 14-year civil conflict fueled by despotic President Charles Taylor, the country of Liberia began to crawl out of its abyss in 2006 when President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was elected to the Presidency. Since then, according to government reports: the economy has grown by 7% between 2006-2009; …“has attracted 16 billion USD

Haiti: After the Earthquake by Paul Farmer Dinner and Book Discussion Tuesday, October 4, 2011 from 6:00 – 9:00, Private residence in Cambridge, MA (near Harvard Square) RSVP: Join New England International Donors (NEID) for its eleventh dinner and book discussion in an intimate private setting. Bringing together donors, grantmakers, social investors

The Creole Choir of Cuba, Oct. 1, 8 p.m. Somerville Theater Somerville, MA. Tickets: $28. 617-876-4275. www.worldmusic.org The Haitian Diaspora resides not just in the U.S., Canada and France — but in Cuba — and in typical Cuban fashion celebrate their musical heritage.

On Octo­ber 13, 2011 representatives of the Gov­ern­ment of Haiti will appear in Geneva before 47 mem­ber nations of the UN to attest to Haiti’s adherence — or lack of adherence — to universal human rights standards. Some ask, why invest in a UN-mandated review of the state of human rights in Haiti.

All future vision and past remembrance is subjective, tinted by the lenses of our own contexts and experiences. September 11 can be remembered through lenses tinted with outrage and patriotic hubris, or as Brian Concannon describes, lenses tinted with empathy from suffering endured. Brian Concannon, human rights attorney and champion of long-oppressed Haitians,

The 2010 Report from Giving USA, which measures philanthropic giving from the U.S. by sectors and recipient types, noted a 15.3% increase in giving to International Affairs in 2010 — the largest increase of any sector — whereas overall giving rose by only 3.8%! Since 2008 total global giving from the US rose 18.8%.

In an open-air pavilion on land donated by the municipality of Leogane, Haitian parents and children moved miniature cardboard houses and paper trees to mock-up the design for a new model community funded by donors to Habitat for Humanity and Architecture for Humanity and to be built by their own hands.