I have come across two recent publications that have me thinking about philanthropic courage and resilience.
The first comes from Ariadne, the European philanthropy network for social change and human rights, which offers its 2026 Forecast for funders. The Ariadne Brief reviews trends affecting philanthropy in Europe and beyond, with an emphasis on actions that philanthropy can take to cope with a volatile environment.
It’s not a reassuring forecast. The Brief points out that across Europe and internationally, democratic norms are being contested, and authoritarian and exclusionary politics are becoming mainstreamed. Philanthropy is operating in a context marked by accelerating change: wars and geopolitical instability, disinformation, AI-driven technological disruption, climate pressures, democratic backsliding, mistrust and widening social inequalities. How does philanthropy respond? Ariadne wants to encourage resilience, or the capacity to anticipate, adapt and respond to disruption while maintaining the ability to organize, learn, collaborate and act effectively. The Brief goes into some detail on the specific application of this idea of resilience to philanthropy and how it can and should position itself within the rapidly changing landscape. It comes down to how philanthropy can use coordination, strategic foresight, risk appetite, narrative power and collective action. In Ariadne’s view, “resilience requires not only financial resources but also stronger coordination, long-term thinking, institutional adaptability and collective strategic capacity…how philanthropy operates may become as important as what it funds.”
The Brief is based on insights from scenario planning workshops and surveys held in the United Kingdom, France and Germany. National contexts vary, as do legal frameworks and organizational cultures. But I think that the analysis and reflections are of great interest to Canadian philanthropic organizations as well. This Brief is a stimulus to thinking about an important question for many funders: what infrastructures, capacities and conditions may be needed to enable civil society, movements and philanthropy itself to remain effective in an increasingly volatile environment?
The second publication is a new Guide from the WINGS global network for philanthropy. It addresses a question that particularly interests me in philanthropic practice which is how to engage more successfully with the policy makers of the public sector whose resources and authorities far exceed those of philanthropists. Working with government is unusual for most philanthropic funders. Governments are hugely important sources of funding for many social impact organizations. But private funders are uneasy about getting too close to government either because they want to set their own priorities or because they could be perceived as substitutes for public money. Philanthropic organizations may be actively discouraged from advocating or lobbying for policy change. Nevertheless, without adequate public policy frameworks, systems change is much harder to achieve.
The lack of willingness of governments to open space for partnering with philanthropy is a real obstacle. Even for governments of liberal democracies, there are constraints to long-term partnership with philanthropy given political turnover, bureaucratic processes, risk aversion and a lack of connectors or a common language. Innovations in approach are needed. There are many options for such innovation, including regulatory change, encouragement of new giving channels and financing vehicles, and active alignment of philanthropic capital with major public priorities.
To promote more effective relations between public and philanthropic actors, WINGS offers its Guide to Enabling and Partnering with Philanthropy which is intended not for philanthropic organizations in the first instance but for governments and policy makers. It organizes its analysis around the three broad roles that governments can play with philanthropy: enabler, catalyst and partner. It showcases practices from more than 20 countries where governments have acted as enablers and catalysts of philanthropic action. I think that Canada and Canadian policy makers, as well as philanthropy networks, could learn much from this Guide, which comes at an important moment for us as a country that is going through a major shift in its national priorities. But it also takes courage from philanthropy to step up and work harder to engage with government. Perhaps it starts with making sure that this Guide is in the hands of potential public sector allies and partners.
In September in Montreal, I attended the WINGS triennial Forum. I heard three big things:
What does all this mean for philanthropic practice? More reflection and willingness to face contradiction, more effort to share experience and knowledge across organizations, and a joining of hands not only within philanthropy but with business and government to address the threats of climate change, political conflict and economic and social dislocation. Ariadne, WINGS and other philanthropy networks are telling funders that they need to call on both courage and resilience to face uncertainty and find ways to build community hand in hand with policy makers. These reflections and guides will help find the way.