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In this episode we hear from Isaac Jones, Director of the UK charity First Give, about their work in schools helping children and young people to become 'philanthropic citizens'. Including:

• What does First Give do, and how did the organisation come about?
• What does the program look like for a participant?
• Is the primary aim to get schoolkids to be more philanthropic, to teach them skills of civic participation/engagement, or to teach personal skills (e.g. presentation, confidence etc)? What is the balance of emphasis between these things?
• Where does the work that FG does fit within schools? E.g. Is it part of the curriculum, or extra-curricular?
• What impact does taking part in the program have on schools as institutions?
• Is the program the same across all schools, or is there room for it to be tailored to the specific needs of a particular school or the local context?
• Are there constraints on what participants can give to? (i.e. in terms of particular geographies, cause areas or types of organisations?)
• What role does personal experience tend to play in the choice of causes and charities that participants support?
• What is the response from recipient charities like? Do they view these donations differently or value them more because of how they have come about?
• Is “philanthropy” a helpful term when engaging young people, or does it cause confusion or bring connotations that might frame things in unhelpful ways?
• Do students who take part in FG demonstrate any increased engagement with their local area, or greater propensity to engage in associational life?
• How does taking part in affect students understanding of the charity sector?Do participant feel any better about the state of the world after taking part in the program? 
• Do programs like First Give’s does have a role to play in addressing concerns about polarisation etc?

Further Resources:

• First Give's website
• External evaluation report on First Give
• Isaac's blog, "Giving Feels Good"
• Philanthropisms podcast episode on teaching philanthropy with Lindsey McDougle and David Campbell.
• Philanthropisms podcast episode with Natasha Friend and Maria Ahmed on participatory grantmaking

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In this episode we talk to Emily Teitsworth, Executive Director of the Honnold Foundation (the nonprofit set up by world-famous climber Alex Honnold), about trust, risk and the foundation's work supporting community-led climate work and low-cost solar projects. Including:

• How did the Honnold Foundation come about, and what is the organisation’s core focus ?
• How and why was low cost solar energy chosen as an intervention? What makes this so effective?
• What is the foundation’s operating model and where do its funds come from?
• Has it helped to have a high-profile founder in Alex Honnold? How does his involvement in the foundation work?
• Why is so little philanthropy currently aimed at climate issues? 
• Do we need to stop seeing climate as a “cause area” and see it instead as a cross-cutting issue that affects all funders and civil society orgs?
• Is it a challenge for climate philanthropy that the needs of the planet are often framed as in competition with those of people? How can climate funders overcome this?
• What kind of due diligence do donors need to do on charities in order to fund them in a trust-based way?
• Can funding from donors/foundations confer legitimacy on grassroots orgs as well as financial resources? Is this useful for them?
• Is scaling about helping individual organisations to get bigger, or about growing the overall ecosystem?
• How can funders design impact measurement approaches with their grantees to ensure they are genuinely empowering and beneficial rather than imposing a new burden?
• Do we need a better narrative about what it means to “fail” and to “succeed” in philanthropy?
• Does Alex Honnold’s background as a climber gives him a unique understanding of risk, and how does this play into the work of the foundation?
• What role does storytelling and narrative have to play in addressing climate concerns? How is this reflected in Honnold Foundation’s approach? 
• Is the current political moment posing challenges for organisations focussed on climate?

Further Reading

• Honnold Foundation
• Honnold Foundation 2025 Impact Report
• Emily's article for Alliance, "To build effective climate solutions, embrace human-centred design"
• Emily's article for Inside Philanthropy (with Suzanne Singer), "Trust-Based Philanthropy Is the Key to a Just Transition"
• Emily and Alex Honnold on the Invested in Climate podcast
• WPM article, "Why Isn't All Philanthropy Trust-Based Philanthropy?"
• Philanthropisms podcasts with Renata Minerbo, Edouard Morena, Joshua Amponsem and Ewan Kirk.

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On this episode we hear from Renata Minerbo, co-founder and Head of Philanthropy at Be The Earth Foundation, a family foundation focussed on the environment and social justice. Including:

• How did Be The Earth come about?
• How does Be The Earth implement a trust-based approach to grantmaking?
• How do you ensure that a trust-based approach doesn’t risk becoming exclusionary? (i.e. that you aren’t limiting your scope to organisations and individuals you already know and trust, but constantly widening the circle?)
• Why is it so important for Be The Earth that investments are made according to the same principles that drive philanthropic work?
• What does it mean to have a “closed loop” model of investing? Is it always straightforward to decide whether to support something as an investment or as a grant? How do you decide in edge cases?
• How can donors/funders approach their work with a suitable degree of humility?
• How can funders and nonprofits overcome the scarcity mindset themselves, and how can they help the organisations they fund to do so? 
• Is it helpful to talk about Next Gen philanthropy?
• How can philanthropic funders collaborate with each other more effectively?
• How does Be The Earth use pooled funds as a way of achieving its mission? 
• Why is convening events and gatherings such an important part of Be The Earth’s work?
• What is flow funding and how does it work?

Further Resources:

• Be The Earth Foundation
• "How Can Wealth Regenerate Ecosystems?"
• Be Hive London and Be Hive Cape Winelands
• Be The Earth's impact investments
• WPM, "Three currencies that are more important than money for philanthropy" and "Why Isn’t All Philanthropy Trust-Based Philanthropy?"
• Philanthropisms podcasts featuring élysse marcellin & Tesmerelna Atsbeha; Sonal Patel; Natasha Friend and Maria Ahmed; and Kate Symondson.

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On this episode we are joined by Dr Xanthe Scharff, Managing Director for External Affairs and Editor-at-Large at the Freedom Fund, to discuss their work combatting modern slavery and what it is like to receive not one but two major gifts from Mackenzie Scott. Including:

• What is Freedom Fund’s mission, and how does it go about delivering on this?
• What is the scale of modern slavery as an issue? 
• How much philanthropic funding does modern slavery currently attract? 
• How did the original Mackenzie Scott gift come about? ($35m in 2021).
• How did the second gift then come about? Was there any difference in process from the first gift?
• What have the gifts from Mackenzie Scott enabled Freedom Fund to do that it otherwise would not have been able to do? 
• Freedom Fund chose to spend the $60m it received from Mackenzie Scott, rather than creating an endowment – what was the thinking behind this?
• How do you balance increased support for existing partners against the need to expand your work by finding new partners?
• Will the funding from Mackenzie Scott make it easier or harder to leverage further philanthropic funding? 
• How does the Freedom Fund work as a collaborative/pooled fund?
• Do collaborative funds make it easier for donors to fund things that they might otherwise deem “too risky”?
• When it comes to risk, is the role of an intermediary like Freedom Fund to reduce the risk for funders, or to help them shift their own risk tolerance so they can fund directly in future?
• Are there challenges in the current political moment when it comes to working on an issue like modern slavery, which overlaps with highly politicised issues around immigration?
• Have wider attacks on the legitimacy of nonprofits and philanthropy have an effect on Freedom Foundation’s work?

Further Resources:

• Freedom Fund
• "How MacKenzie Scott channeled $4 billion via collaboratives", Devex
• "MacKenzie Scott Gave us $60m. We're Giving it Away", Chronicle of Philanthropy
• WPM article, "MacKenzie Scott & the History of Challenging Philanthropy’s Status Quo"
• Philanthropisms podcast episodes with Rachael Jarosh & Suzanne Ehlers; Elizabeth Barajas-Román; and Sara Lomelin.

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In the thirteenth edition of our podcast partnership with the European Research Network on Philanthropy (ERNOP), we talk to more academics whose work is featured in the latest batch of short, practitioner-focused ERNOP Research Notes.

 In this episode we hear from: 

• Lauren Dula (Binghamton University, State University of New York) & Laurie Paarlberg (Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, Indiana University), about their research into the literature on how power manifests in philanthropic foundations.
• Marius van Dijke (Nottingham Trent University) about his paper (with Gijs van Houwelingen) looking at the impact that cognitive abstraction has on prosocial behaviour.
• Oto Potluka (University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague) about his research (with Lenka Svecova, Eva Blahova & Natasa Diatkova) on whether formal and informal volunteering compete for engaged individuals.

FURTHER RESOURCES

• ERNOP's Research Notes
• Lauren & Laurie's paper, "Philanthropic Foundations and the Exercise of Power: An Integrative Literature Review of the Many Faces of Power", and the accompanying ERNOP research note by Jemima Chana
• Marius's paper, "Cognitive abstraction increases prosociality when loyalty is valued lowly, but decreases prosociality when loyalty is valued highly", and the accompanying ERNOP research note by Gerlad Czech.
• Oto's paper, "Do Formal and Informal Volunteering Compete for Engaged Individuals?", and the accompanying ERNOP research note by Ashifa Agede.

If you would like to contribute to making academic work accessible and more relevant for people working in, with or for philanthropy, then why not consider becoming an ERNOP practitioner expert and help translate academic work on philanthropy into research notes in close collaboration with the authors of the original work.
 https://ernop.eu/information-for-practitioner-experts/

Or, if you or your organisation might be interested in supporting ERNOP’s wider mission to advance philanthropy research and make it accessible to those working in, with, and for philanthropy, then why not consider joining as a member:
 https://ernop.eu/member-portal/subscription-plan/

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On this episode we are joined by Craig Newmark - founder of Craigslist, philanthropist and recent Giving Pledge signatory - to discuss his thoughts on the importance of philanthropy and how he approaches it. Including:

• What was it that particularly made him decide to sign the Giving Pledge last year, given that he has been doing philanthropy at a significant level for a long time now?
• Part of Craig's stated aim in signing the Giving Pledge is to “inspire really rich people to pony up some dough” – is this something he is planning on doing primarily by example, or in other ways too?
• Why were his Sunday School teachers and Leonard Cohen both important in shaping his thinking about giving and responsibility?
• Why is a desire to “defend the country” a key common thread in Craig's philanthropy, and what are the different ways that manifests?
• Can it be a challenge these days to be patriotic in a way that isn’t seen as partisan or nationalistic? Is it important to use philanthropy to model a ‘good’ version of patriotism?
• In his Giving Pledge letter Craig wrote that“My most effective approach to addressing a manageable number of needs is to build a network of networks of people who know how to get the job done on stuff I care about….I find the group, fund them, nudge them to work together, and get out of the way.” So how does he find the people who know how to get the job done, and what does it mean to “get out of the way?”
• Why has cybersecurity and fighting online scams become such a big area of focus? 
• Are there other philanthropists or funders working in this area? Do we need more? 
• What was it that originally drove Craig's interest in supporting journalism through his philanthropy? How has that evolved?
• Where did his interest in support for military veterans and their families come from?
• What is the most important lesson he has learned about philanthropy? 

Further Resources

• Craig Newmark Philanthropies
• Craig and Eileen Newmarks' Giving Pledge letter
• Chronicle of Philanthropy, "Craigslist Founder Signs Giving Pledge and Narrows Focus"
• Nieman Lab, "Craig Newmark explains why he’s pulling back on funding journalism"
• Fortune, "Craigslist founder signs the Giving Pledge, and his fortune will go to military families, fighting cyberattacks—and a pigeon rescue"
• Inside Philanthropy, "Why Craig Newmark Is Concerned — and Hopeful — for American Democracy"
• WPM article "When Nobody Knows You’re a Dog: Tech, Civil Society, and the Fight for Authenticity"
• Philanthropisms podcast with Jonathan Heawood

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In the third and final episode of our "Myths of Philanthropy" series, Rhodri and Chiara are joined by Zaineb Mohammed (Kataly Fund) and Devi Leiper O'Malley (Closer Than You Think) to discuss individualism and scarcity. Including:

• What does it mean to have a scarcity mindset, and why is it so common in the nonprofit sector?
• What does a scarcity mindset lead to?
• How can funders and nonprofits overcome the scarcity mindset themselves, and how can they help the nonprofits they fund to do so? (E.g. by giving big grants up front, removing restrictions, working over longer timescales etc.)
• Is there too much competition and not enough collaboration in the nonprofit sector? Why is this?
• Is the emphasis on competition a legacy of modern institutional philanthropy’s roots in capitalism?
• How can we design better approaches? What kinds of resources and infrastructure will this require?
• Can organisational identity be a barrier to effective collaboration?
• Is the idea that foundations need to exist in perpetuity a reflection of a scarcity mindset? If so, how?
• Does adopting an abundance mindset make it easier to consider spending down?
• Why does the myth of the “philanthropic lone hero” (i.e. individuals or ogranisations working alone to solve complex social issues) continue to be so pervasive?
• Is part of the challenge that we find stories about individuals more compelling than ones about systems, so there is a tendency to frame things in terms of the former?
• How can we effectively recognise the role individuals play whilst at the same time emphasising the importance of the collective?

Further Resources:

• Zaineb's "Myths of philanthropy" essay, "Leaning Into Abundance: What If Philanthropy’s Potential Wasn’t Limited by Manufactured Scarcity?"
• Devi's "Myths of Philanthropy" essay (with Ruby Johnson and Swatee Deepak), "Solidarity Leadership: What If Philanthropy Encouraged Collaboration Rather Than Competition? "
• Kataly Foundation 
• Closer Than You Think

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For the second episode in our "Myths of Philanthropy" series, we are joined by élysse marcellin (Whose Knowledge?) and Tesmeralna Atsbeha (philanthropic strategist & advisor, formerly Wellspring Philanthropic Fund) to discuss presumed knowledge. Including:

• Why do we equate wealth with expertise across a broad range of domains, and why is this a mistake? 
• Do we also make judgements about those who do not have money (i.e. that they have less knowledge or less capacity to absorb funding)?
• To what extent does the way in which a wealthy donor has made their money inform and shape their view about the role of philanthropy and how to practice it?
• How can donors approach their philanthropy with a suitable degree of humility?
• Are those who work in foundations also guilty of equating their position in relation to wealth with expertise in addressing issues? How can we get out of this mindset?
• Does this require understanding and re-evaluating our own attitudes to money?
• Does prioritisation of certain kinds of knowledge act as a barrier in philanthropy? How is this reflected in grant application processes, funding decisions etc?
• What role does language play in marginalising certain forms of knowledge (especially indigenous knowledge)?
• What does it look like for a philanthropic organisation to demonstrate that it genuinely values a wide range of different forms of knowledge?

Further Resources:

•  élysse's "Myths of Philanthropy" essay (with Cassie Denbow and Anasuya Sengupta), If You Know You Know: What If Philanthropy is Mistaking Wealth for Expertise?
• Tesmerelna's "Myths of Philanthropy essay", Reconsidering Our Relationship to Power: What If Philanthropy’s Greatest Resource Isn’t Financial but Relational Capital?
• Liberatory Archives and Memory, a project by Whose knowledge?
• WPM articles, "Three currencies that are more important than money for philanthropy" and "Language Barriers"

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In the first episode of our mini-series on "Myths of Philanthropy", Rhodri and Chiara are joined by Lisa Cowan (Director of The Haven Fund, previously Vice President of the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation) and Dimple Abichandani (author of A New Era of Philanthropy: Ten Practices to Transform Wealth Into a More Just and Sustainable Future)  to discuss the notion of legacy.

Including:

• To what extent do foundations exist in perpetuity as a default, rather than an active choice?
• Would it be enough to shift this norm?
• Is there evidence that next generation philanthropists take a different view of perpetuity than previous generations?
• Is this likely to lead to more limited-life foundations being created in future, or more perpetual foundations shifting to a spend down approach?
• Are there valid arguments in favour of longevity?
• Are there ways of getting longevity without perpetual endowments?
•  To what extent is adherence to perpetuity driven by funders taking an individualistic perspective?  
• Why is it important to understand the historic roots of the wealth, institutions and practices we have in philanthropy?
• What should philanthropic organisations do about links to historic injustices? Is it enough to acknowledge them, or do they need to go beyond that and seek means to make reparations somehow? 
• What role did Carnegie’s “Gospel of Wealth” play in justifying extractive or harmful business practices on the grounds that good would be done through philanthropy with the proceeds?
• Is philanthropy inherently a symptom of structural inequality and injustice, and does this limit its ability to be part of the solution to these challenges? 
• Or are there forms of philanthropy that can be genuine tools for furthering equality and justice, and what do these look like?
• Does a reparative approach to philanthropy require a fundamental rethink of what we mean by “effectiveness” or “success”?
• What implications might taking a reparative approach have for the governance of philanthropic funders? (i.e. in terms of who works in foundations and who is on the board?)

Further Resources:

• Lisa's original Myths of Philanthropy essay, "A Path to Repair: What if Philanthropy Wasn’t About Giving Away Money, but Returning It?" 
• Dimple's original  Myths of Philanthropy essay, "Spending Stories: What If We Moved from Perpetuity to Purpose?"
• Dimple's book A New Era of Philanthropy: Ten Practices to Transform Wealth Into a More Just and Sustainable Future)
• Lisa's website
• Dimple's website

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Rhodri is joined by Mandy van Deven and Chiara Cattaneo from Elemental, to introduce a new 3-part collaborative series on "Myths of Philanthropy".  Including:

• Why curate a series about the myths of philanthropy? 
• How did the series take shape? 
• Who are the contributors?
• What are the myths of philanthropy, and where did they come from?
• What do we hope readers and listeners will take away from this series?

Further Resources:

• Elemental
• The Myths of Philanthropy 
• Filantropia, e se cambiassimo le narrative?
• Of monsters and margins, or why narrative work should be at the heart of philanthropy now
• 2024 Philanthropisms podcast episode with Mandy and Chiara
• WPM article "Three currencies that are more important than money for philanthropy"