It’s difficult, and somewhat unfair, to generalize about foundation philanthropy. If I have learned anything after two decades of working with foundations, it’s that generalizations quickly find their contradictions. There are great differences among foundations in motivation, strategies and governance.
That said, there is reason to focus on one big generalization right now. It’s about the shared environment in which philanthropies operate. No matter its mission, or target population, or size, or beliefs, a philanthropic foundation is profoundly affected by the urgency of the many systemic global crises we now face – what some are calling a “polycrisis”. In Canada, these overlapping systemic crises are exemplified by our summer of wildfires and floods, along with longer-term concerns about the impact of climate change on the North, on biodiversity, on agriculture and water. We must figure out how to get to greater sustainability without leaving people behind and while trying to put equity and access to opportunity first. We are also still dealing with the after-effects of the pandemic, including long-term health impacts and economic disruptions. The world certainly feels unstable.
In a world of change, philanthropy is hearing a call for even greater change, even for transformation, within philanthropy itself. A new initiative from WINGS, the global philanthropy network, sets out to challenge the field to respond more boldly to the polycrisis. The Philanthropy Transformation Initiative (PTI) calls on foundations to transform their own practices, with the aim of becoming more effective organizations, better able to rise to what it describes as the existential threat that humanity faces.
Transformation is a daunting word. But the group of philanthropy networks, advisors, academics and funders assembled by WINGS for the PTI argues that “the current polycrisis presents a radically new situation – one that will force us all to rethink the short, middle, and long-term view of our existence on this planet. This requires us to make radical changes to the ways in which we think about philanthropy (and many other areas of our lives and societies). As practitioners embodying the love of humanity we cannot ignore existential threats, even if doing so may mean significant changes to what we do and how we do it in the short-term.”
But what can we do? The PTI has put together a report that provides a handbook of sorts for foundations trying to come to grips with what must be done. Understanding that transformation is too big an idea without more definition, the PTI has tried to break it down into three messages and ten principles. The three messages are straightforward:
These messages are the PTI answer to what it captures as the three paradoxes of philanthropy:
These paradoxes are often cited by the more radical critics of institutional philanthropy to justify their call for philanthropy to spend down and/or be dismantled. But the PTI suggests that they can be used as a catalyst for positive change, “with philanthropy actors understanding how they can adopt models and methods that maximise their potential as a force for positive social change whilst minimising the capacity to cause unintended harms.”
This entails a change in mindset, which is where the three messages come in. The PTI suggests a mindset shift from being achievers to being enablers of others to contribute to social change; from separating operations and endowments from values and wealth generation, to aligning them; from thinking more about the short-term and the local to thinking about the longer-term and the global.
Yes, much easier described than done. So, to break it down into more do-able steps to transformation, the PTI names ten principles to guide practice:
For each principle, the 87-page PTI report offers a so-called “catalogue of resources, recommendations, and insights”. It discusses specifics, recommends practices, and lists resources and tools. For instance, under the first principle on transparency and accountability, the report defines the terms, discusses why funders should pay attention, suggests how to get started and how to go beyond, lists potential obstacles and possible solutions, and then adds a digitally-linked list of resources on the topic, sourced from around the world. In addition, WINGS has produced a separate and more detailed guide to transparency and accountability which I referenced in my June 2023 blog. What I appreciate about this guide is that it’s not all or nothing. Canadian foundation boards, leaders, and staff can choose one or more steps. Transformation isn’t immediate or all at once. The idea is to start on the steps, using this as a route map of sorts. To encourage and inspire, WINGS has created an opportunity for storytelling and case studies through the PTI website. One of the ambitious WINGS goals for the PTI is to create a global framework for philanthropy, to which funders can add evidence of changing practice under one or more of the ten principles. The case studies today come from Indonesia, Egypt, Brazil, Colombia, China, the UK, Australia and China. Will there be a Canadian foundation case study listed there soon?