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Future of High Impact Philanthropy Prof. Cathy Pharoah Centre for Charitable Giving and Philanthropy | Cass Business School The world’s leading open foresight program
| Date post: | 14-Feb-2017 |
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Future of High Impact Philanthropy Prof. Cathy Pharoah
Centre for Charitable Giving and Philanthropy | Cass Business School
The world’s leading open foresight program
Context This ini;al perspec;ve on the Future of High Impact Philanthropy
kicks off a series global discussions that are taking place through 2017. It is an ini;al view to be shared, challenged, built upon and enhanced.
Changing Donor Expecta>ons Future donors will expect social ventures to be managed
in business-‐like ways, and business to be more socially and environmentally engaged.
Heightened Scru>ny Philanthropic involvement will be increasingly vulnerable to the public distrust and scep;cism of the post-‐truth society which
has followed the major financial and corporate governance crises.
Good Governance Philanthropic ins;tu;ons will have to be transparent,
fit for purpose and geared up for governance challenges (e.g. accountability of major wealthy donors).
Unleashing the 1% The richest 1% in society now own around half of the world’s wealth and could choose to contribute much more than they do.
Giving Resurgence A duty to give, rich or poor, is embedded in all the world’s great faiths
and cultures. Driven by those who have benefiRed most from the growth of global wealth we see a resurgence in social norms around giving.
Strategic Philanthropy Funders are shiSing from reac;ve, responsive grant-‐making towards pro-‐ac;ve and impact-‐driven ‘strategic philanthropy’
which drives spending decisions towards outcome achievement.
Systems Change To solve complex social problems, founda;ons funders shiS to an emergent
model that takes on board the mul;ple systems and contexts of social depriva;on, and iden;fies the gaps in policy and prac;ce.
Fixing Capitalism Seeking to avoid the systemic faults in global capitalism that have created a perpetual poverty machine for some, people try out
concepts that shaRer current structures and systems.
Social Investment Social investment is a powerful force in the future of philanthropy going beyond non-‐returnable grants for charitable purposes to social venture
investment with the poten;al to grow social and financial return.
Open Public Services Open Public Services will increasingly offer ambi;ous social purpose ventures scope to develop and expand through
delivering local statutory services.
Subsidised Investment Social investment remains heavily subsidised by philanthropic and public
funding, which will con;nue to be needed to develop the capacity of mul;ple small-‐medium social ventures reliant on reducing statutory grant support.
Micro-‐venturing Smaller philanthropic ventures present an on-‐going market gap, and
imagina;ve re-‐thinking is needed for organisa;ons that, because of their mission or capacity, may never reach financial independence.
Direct Philanthropy A growing opportunity is to use social finance to tackle poverty and financial exclusion at source. Micro-‐finance products coupled with
mobile phone and smart card technologies will be increasingly powerful.
De-‐risking Social Investment A key barrier to social investment for social ventures
with few assets and limited track record is risk. Innova;ve prac;ces, structures and partnerships emerge.
Appropriate Comparison A significant challenge to building investment in emerging enterprise
is to establish adequate social, financial and environmental growth indicators that can benchmark performance.
Effec>ve Altruism A resurrec;on of u;litarian no;ons of calcula;ng ‘the greatest good for the greatest number’ replaces personal preference or idiosyncrasy with
scien;fically calculated maximum social impact, forcing hard choices for many.
Partnerships for Impact Agencies from all sectors will expand cross-‐sector and
cross-‐na;onal partnering, to achieve leverage and impact. Founda;ons increasingly co-‐fund with each other.
Philanthropic Disintermedia>on Digital technology challenges established structures and reveals new philanthropic pathways. One consequence is the trend
towards philanthropic disintermedia;on.
Digital Engagement High impact philanthropy will need to capture the personal
ini;a;ve and engagement which digital technology enables to drive growth and new ways of targe;ng social needs.
Fragmented Philanthropy Major new philanthropic giving investment is likely to be donor-‐mo;vated, driven and directed, bypassing charitable structures. An issue is how large-‐scale private donor engagement relates to exis;ng philanthropic ini;a;ves.
Inves>ng in Philanthropy Capacity Philanthropy invests liRle in its own development, always priori;sing front-‐line
services. A future challenge is to find resources for its own infrastructure development, par;cularly in building business and enterprise capacity.
Cost and Risk of Failure As philanthropy concentrates responsibility for change in the hands of the few, failure to deliver will present
significant costs and risks to society.
Micro Social Finance Larger-‐scale successful social business is increasingly well-‐served by social
finance. The challenge is to make it work for the specialised, smaller-‐scale, and less marketable but vital purposes which philanthropy contributes to society.
Ques>ons As we share and build on this view we would like to know what you agree with, what you don’t, what is missing and, most importantly, what will
be some of the key impacts and implica;ons – both globally and regionally.
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