In early April, the leaders of two relatively new Canadian foundations, Definity Insurance Foundation and Daymark Foundation, joined me at the annual conference of the Canadian Association of Gift Planners to share their experiences and insights on the evolution of strategic philanthropy. Here is some of what we talked about...
We live in a better country than we did 20 years ago, even if the media paint a different picture. For example….
In every case, a Canadian grantmaking foundation provided the seed funds, the connections, the training or the advocacy support to make it happen. And most people don’t know about it.
Why not? Foundations don’t often tell their own stories. And they need to. Because there are many other stories out there not told by foundations.
Some are benign (foundations exist to help those in need). Some are aspirational (foundations are the risk capital for much-needed social innovation). But others are conspiratorial (foundations are anti-democratic vehicles for the wealthy), or critical (foundations sequester urgently needed resources for today’s problems).
It’s true, there isn’t a single story. Philanthropic foundations are as different as the sources and uses of their capital. At the core, all foundation stories are about charity, caring for others. But foundations can also fight justice and seek equity. To do this, they must support social change.
Strategic foundations can tell a story about bringing about social change, using models and theories to determine and measure specific social outcomes and impacts. But this isn’t a story about the solo foundation in charge. That model is not ideal for social change. Even if it is appealing for a foundation to run its own show, it doesn’t open the door to more collaborative approaches. And it doesn’t consider the complexities of social change.
A strategic foundation works hand in hand with community partners to achieve mutually agreed goals, using its capital creatively and committing to active learning along the way. Definity and Daymark are this kind of foundation. The diversity of their work shows us that foundations contribute more than just financial capital. They can support knowledge-building, social research and development, network creation and convening, organization and infrastructure support. They can influence and they can advocate. They act as signals to others around innovations that may be crucial to us five or ten years from today.
In all philanthropic stories, we must acknowledge questions of power and inequality. Foundations are privileged. Their assets give them power. Foundations in Canada are being called out, as they are elsewhere, for lack of urgency in a world of rapid climate change and increasing inequality. Foundations, just like other organizations, need to be more transparent. To be accountable, foundations need to explain what change, what social impact, they seek and how they are going about it.
Arti Freeman, Chief Executive Officer of Definity Insurance Foundation, and Vani Jain, Executive Director of Daymark, are foundation leaders who know this well. They and their boards share some essential qualities with other strategic philanthropic leaders:
The Daymark Foundation is a family foundation created in 2020 to focus on mental health in two specific areas: women’s mental health (with an initial focus on perinatal mental health) and bipolar disorder. The Foundation has clearly set out its theory of change to improve outcomes in its chosen areas, in an unusually open manner. It uses a “more than money” approach, deploying intellectual, social, human and financial capital to act on its priorities. The Foundation has eliminated its grant application process in favour of an open invitation to potential partners to contact the Foundation for a call to discuss the organization’s vision for systems impact. As Vani Jain puts it, “competitive grantmaking promotes self-interest and hinders collaboration. We want to help organizations see their role within a larger system and explore the contribution they could make alongside others.” Daymark uses convening as a tool to help orient stakeholders toward these higher-level goals.
Definity Insurance Foundation is an independent foundation established and funded through the demutualization of the Economical Mutual Insurance Company. Since its public launch in February 2022, the Foundation has been focused on the roots of inequality, working particularly with Black Indigenous and racialized populations. Like Daymark, it has chosen to work with partners to advance community-led solutions that further climate, health and socio-economic justice goals. Like Daymark, Definity thinks of its capital as more than simply financial. It is also boldly moving into seeding initiatives that catalyze more private capital for the social outcomes that it seeks. It is deeply committed to providing the funds for capacity building of the partners with whom it has chosen to work. For example, it provided a $750,000 multi-year grant to the Raven Indigenous Impact Foundation, an organization focused on improving the wellbeing of Indigenous peoples, co-creating financial solutions that will result in better outcomes in climate and health for Indigenous peoples by centering the needs and voices of Indigenous communities. The Foundation provided the seed funding to design and structure the fund, hire a CIO and raise capital through investor engagement. Once the fund was in place, the Foundation also made a commitment to invest in the fund. Arti Freeman notes that this investment has a multiplier effect that accelerates impact. “If we want to achieve our mission, we can’t do it just with granting dollars,” says Arti. “We use our relational, social, intellectual and financial capital to advance solutions, and we learn as we do, always in collaboration with others, because how we show up is as important to us as what we fund”.
These two foundations exemplify a strategic approach being taken by Canadian foundations featuring innovative uses of capital, collaboration and a clear focus on outcomes. The foundation story is evolving rapidly, and we will hear more of it directly from these new leaders as a new generation comes in to Canadian philanthropy.