Finding strength in numbers

No-one in the world of philanthropy would deny that things are changing. As there is increasing pressure to do more with less and create long-term, meaningful systemic change, mindsets are beginning to change. There are many philanthropists across the world, especially those new to the field, who would like to invest large sums of money, but find that mechanisms are limited in doing this without starting their own foundation. Although this is one solution, not all philanthropists want the responsibility, nor have the means or infrastructure required to create large-scale systems change – they simply want to ensure that their invested money delivers the greatest possible impact. The dilemma of how best to spend this money is nothing new, as philanthropist Andrew Carnegie said over a century ago, “It is more diffcult to give money away intelligently than to earn it in the first place.” Between 2000 and 2014, the number of foundations in the United States alone rose from 56,000 to 86,000 respectively and today there are around 1.6 million non-profit organisations registered in the country. On one hand, we can view the rising number of foundations and non-profits as a positive trend in good intentions to make the world a better place. On the other hand, the sheer number of organisations has the inevitable consequence of money and resources being highly dispersed preventing true, long-term change being created. For this very reason, many individuals and foundations are now pooling their resources to accomplish bigpicture change. New players in the arena may decide to join forces with existing foundations to mitigate the risk of duplicating what may already be out there and to avoid fragmentation of funds. But it isn’t just the newcomers who are realising that sometimes strength comes in numbers. Even mega foundations, like the Gates Foundation, are finding that they cannot go it alone to solve the world’s most unmanageable problems. Organisations that have found themselves pigeon-holed in a particular area like education or health, are realising that holistic change may involve a blurring of specialities, thus requiring expertise from elsewhere. Collaborations may take longer to set up, especially if effectiveness is the main goal. Relinquishing a certain power over money when mission statements, strategies and working methods may differ, can be challenging for the different parties, especially when the very structure of many autonomous and independent foundations was not designed to collaborate. Too many cooks in the kitchen is apt when there are a group of strong and individual leaders vying for the driver’s seat. However, as in all collaborations, both in and out of the philanthropic world, sharing know-how, wisdom and skillsets in specific areas can be invaluable. Although strategies and working methods may often differ, the driving force behind philanthropy is to make systemic change and to that end, a middle ground, joint vision and motivation can propel the collaboration forward. It is with this in mind that Olivia Leland of the Rockefeller Foundation started a venture called Co-Impact. After having run the Giving Pledge, where the wealthiest individuals and families commit to dedicating a significant proportion of their wealth to philanthropy, she realised that many billionaires have an aspiration to create enduring impact and to help the world’s poorest people, but don’t possess the structural wherewithal to achieve this change at scale. Backed by Bill and Melinda Gates and Jeff Skoll, amongst others, the first round of this programme involves 80 million USD of grants over the next five years to improve the education, health and economic opportunity of around nine million people in developing nations - no mean feat, even with the collaboration of these philanthropic giants. As Oliva Leland argues, “If we really want to shift systems, it’s not going to be any one organisation that will do it.” Having inspired Co-Impact, the forerunners in U.S. collaborative philanthropy were the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation who launched Blue Meridian Partners to help lift American children and youths out of poverty. Now with ten philanthropic partners, it is investing up to 200 million USD on proven projects and organisations by helping them to scale up their solutions. On an international level, Dasra, India’s leading strategic philanthropy foundation has been working since 1999 to help the nation reach its development goals by encouraging ultra-high net worth citizens to act towards mass-level development instead of making incremental changes at a local level. Although deep collaboration is still the exception rather than the rule, it may be the future of philanthropy’s goal to drive systemic change. As the African proverb so rightly puts it “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

Even mega foundations like the Gates Foundation are finding that they cannot go it alone to solve the world’s most unmanageable problems