{"id":36167,"date":"2021-06-15T21:58:49","date_gmt":"2021-06-15T19:58:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arab.org\/?p=36167"},"modified":"2021-06-15T21:58:49","modified_gmt":"2021-06-15T19:58:49","slug":"the-future-of-philanthropy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arab.org\/blog\/future-of-philanthropy\/","title":{"rendered":"The Future of Philanthropy","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"

Steering Away From a Culture of Gatekeeping<\/strong><\/p>\n

Venture philanthropists need to meet with social entrepreneurs who have clearly demonstrated their ability to generate systemic change, and give them some freedom to do their job\u2014instead of limiting their potential. They also need to act with far greater urgency, give in greater percentages (even akin to the average American), and place more women in decision making roles. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

But what now? What roadblocks are truly getting in the way of making this happen? We believe it has a lot to do with existing organizational and individual power structures, a risk-averse mindset, a lack of women in leadership, and not prioritizing or placing bigger bets\u2014those that reflect today\u2019s available capital resources, which carry enough weight to really address global inequality. Additionally, there continues to be little or no sense of urgency to make this happen on a timeline that matches the issues. <\/p>\n

Ceding Power<\/strong><\/p>\n

The top-heavy, insular nature of philanthropic organizations today poses steep challenges when it comes to funding certain projects\u2014often the ones that hold large-scale promise. Grant-making foundations often find themselves tied to rigid budgets, closed-door decision-making structures, and permissible program areas. In theory, foundations are among the most flexible institutions for allocating money to social change. But in reality, they\u2019re often constrained in their ability to shift resources and have too many decision-makers. Foundations\u2014along with companies looking to optimize their philanthropy\u2014need less to do more. They need lean teams empowered to make decisions quickly, and with a mandate to think outside the box\u2014as well as a portfolio of dedicated grantees that have passed every due diligence test, and are ready to be funded as organizations instead of projects. These institutions should be prioritizing opportunities that attract more capital from the capital markets and remove barriers from people living in poverty\u2014enabling them to participate as customers and take charge of their own lives. Instead, foundations often have a gate-keeping culture that strives to place ideas and initiatives in boxes\u2014versus looking at the bigger picture, and helping social entrepreneurs change the underlying systems that reinforce inequality. By extension, they limit the potential of social entrepreneurs and non-profits to scale their impact.<\/p>\n

When we recently spoke with Ben Wrobel and Meg Massey\u2014who co-authored the book Letting Go: How Philanthropists and Impact Investors Can Do More Good by Giving Up Control. They posed the idea of participatory funding as a facilitator of systems change. Essentially, said Wrobel, it\u2019s \u201cthe process of shifting decision-making power over grant-making or investing to the very communities most affected by them. It\u2019s a structural fix to the broken power dynamics in traditional funding.\u201d <\/p>\n

They believe it\u2019s paramount for grant makers and investors to \u201clet go\u201d by ceding decision-making power to people who have lived experience of the problem at hand. But they also believe this model extends to the philanthropic organizations themselves, which need to let go of the hierarchical structures that have historically constrained their ability to make the greatest impact. And that starts with bringing in people from the areas being directly served\u2014for example, a small business loan fund in Boston that is entirely controlled by working-class residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s the hypothetical Ivy League graduate, who\u2019s studied an issue deeply but hasn\u2019t experienced it. And it\u2019s not that that person has nothing to contribute. But they shouldn\u2019t be in charge of everything, and they shouldn\u2019t be the only voice in a room,\u201d said Massey. \u201cTheir academic expertise should be balanced with lived experience, treated as expertise. Living in a neighborhood your whole life is the equivalent of a PhD in that neighborhood. It\u2019s essential to first build trust with the community you\u2019re serving.\u201d <\/p>\n

Heightening the Sense of Urgency<\/strong><\/p>\n

We\u2019ve made a few hopeful strides over the years, primarily by way of The Giving Pledge\u2014started by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, in an effort to encourage other billionaires to give away at least half of their wealth during the course of their lifetime. To date, 216 worldwide have pledged to do this. But even this monumental effort disregards the sense of urgency that is so critical today. Among the younger billionaires, we could be waiting over four or five decades for that pledge to come to fruition. But today\u2014every day\u2014there are people who have no clean water to drink, or safe haven from trafficking, or source of nourishment. Our natural resources are drying up with shocking rapidity, and both wildlife and humanity are feeling the effects\u2014which are only getting worse by the minute. While the Giving Pledge is undeniably noble, it may not be enough when these basic human and planetary needs are so urgent. As former President, Barack Obama said: \u201cWe are the first generation to feel the effects of climate change, and the last generation who can do something about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Our hope here is to nudge the philanthropic and impact investing community in the direction of systems change, supported by the level of capital that\u2019s needed to realize that vision. Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, has directed the global corporate and financial industry toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2050\u2014but we know that meeting this target will be largely defined by what happens in the next decade, by 2030. Hence, we need to accelerate the acceleration. If we don\u2019t get serious about 2030, we\u2019ll be out of time. And we need the level of leadership, commitment, and accountability that will get us there. <\/p>\n

Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n

Written by: Lebec Consulting
\nImages: Charities Aid Foundation (CAF)
\nPublication date: April 27, 2021 <\/p>\n

Independent media and does not necessarily represent the view or opinion of arab.org<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/div>
<\/div>\n

<\/i> View MENA NGO’s supporting health<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/i> Do good & feel good for free – you click, we donate<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/i> Find out more about most nonprofits from the Arab World<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Steering Away From a Culture of Gatekeeping Venture philanthropists need to meet with social entrepreneurs who have clearly demonstrated their ability to generate systemic change, and give them some freedom…<\/p>\n","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"author":1,"featured_media":36168,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[537,1639,1188],"aioseo_notices":[],"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"link","format":"url"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arab.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36167"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arab.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arab.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arab.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arab.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arab.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36167\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arab.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arab.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arab.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arab.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}