The symposium was organized by AKMED, ANAMED, and GABAM in celebration of the 50th year of the Vehbi Koç Foundation and marked the First International Suna and İnan Kıraç Symposium on Mediterranean Civilizations. The symposium took place March 26th to 29th, 2019 at Koç University AKMED Conference Hall in Antalya. It focused on topics such as the understandings of philanthropy in the ancient, Byzantine, Seljuk, or Ottoman worlds, how charitable foundations served public benefit, and the role of philanthropy in society. The papers presented in the symposium were published as a book of proceedings in 2019 with the collaboration of the three research centers.