Philanthropisms

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In this episode we speak to Sara Lomelin, founding CEO of Philanthropy Together, about the rise of giving circles and the intersection between philanthropy, community and identity. Including:

• How did Philanthropy Together come about, and what is the organisation's mission?
• Who gets involved in giving circles? Are they different from"typical donors"?
• Do collective giving models appeal more to younger donors?
• What different approaches to giving circles take to decision-making?
• Are there models of collective giving that bring recipients into the decision making process as well as donors?
• How much collective giving takes place through long-term giving circles, and how much is through shorter-term “pop-up” collaborations? Is it possible to combine the strengths of both of these approaches?
• Are giving circles more likely to give to smaller grassroots orgs that might be perceived as "risky" by institutional funders?
• Can collective giving models help to make philanthropy more justice-focussed?
•  Can collective giving help to build a sense of shared identity, or does it rely on there being a pre-existing sense of identity around which a group can be formed?  
• How do identity-based groups accommodate intersectional identities?
• Does collective giving build social capital? If so, is it merely “bonding” social capital or also “bridging”?
• The internet allows us to form communities of interest, identity or purpose that are not tied to geographic boundaries- in this context, is there still a meaningful relationship between ‘place’ and ‘community’? 
• How can we learn more effectively from other cultures of giving where collective or horizontal models are more common?
• What is the relationship between collective giving and mutual aid? Is it more common to see a focus on notions such as solidarity when people are giving collectively?
• Do collective giving models address some of the concerns about the potentially anti-democratic nature of elite philanthropy?
• Should elite philanthropy fund collective giving models in recognition of their unique value? Or should elite philanthropists adopt practices and insights from collective giving? 
  
  

Related Links:

• Philanthropy Together
• Hali Lee's article on "Cultures of Generosity and Philanthropy Within Communities of Color"
• Sara's talk at the 2022 TED conference, "Your invitation to disrupt philanthropy"
• Sara's 2021 article with Asha Curran in Ms magazine
• Sara's Alliance magazine article with Isis Krause on "The future of collective giving and what’s next for Philanthropy Together"
• Philanthropisms podcast with Mihaela Giurgiu
• WPM article on the 2023 Gates Foundation Greater Giving Summit
• WPM article on the language we use to talk about philanthropy

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In this episode we talk to Joshua Amponsem, co-founder and Strategy Director of the  Youth Climate Justice Fund, a newly-formed organisation that aims to support youth-led climate movements with trust-based funding, resources and youth-to-youth development. We discuss:

•  How did YCJF come about? What is the organisation's mission and what does it aim to do?
• Why is so little philanthropy currently aimed at climate issues? Why is only a tiny fraction of that funding aimed at youth-led climate justice? (Despite the obvious success of youth climate leaders in putting these issues on the agenda).
• 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?
• What do youth-led climate movements need apart from money? (e.g. leadership training & support, physical protection).
• Youth climate movements and activists are often using tactics that traditional nonprofits would shy away from, such as direct action or strategic litigation. Does this present a challenge or an opportunity when it comes to convincing funders to support them?
• Is the goal of YCJF to reduce the risk for funders of supporting youth-led climate movements and activists, or to get funders to accept and be comfortable with those risks?
• Is there a danger that even well-intentioned funders inadvertently skew the direction of movements by virtue of the choices they make about what to fund and what not to fund? How can we avoid this risk?
• How can we ensure that power and decision making within philanthropy is shifted towards the people and communities who would have been seen as the traditional ‘beneficiaries’? Why is this particularly important for youth-led movements?
• How is YCJF using participatory methods in its decision-making? What are the strengths of doing so? (And does it also bring challenges?)
• Do we need to measure impact in social change or social justice philanthropy? If so, how can we do it in a way that helps rather than harms grantees?
• Are there some sources of funding that present particular practical and ethical challenges for climate movements (e.g. money from the fossil fuel industry etc). Is it possible for movements to accept money from these sources without damaging their own legitimacy? If so, what does this require?

Related links:

• Youth Climate Justice Fund website
• Read the Youth Climate Justice Study
• Joshua's recent Alliance magazine piece (with Nathan Méténier), "More power to youth: Doing climate philanthropy differently"
• Profile of YCJF in Inside Philanthropy (£) 
• Philanthropisms podcast with Lorena Gonzalez & Jes Olvera
• WPM short guides to core cost funding and impact measurement

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This is the third edition of our partnership with the  European Research Network on Philanthropy (ERNOP), in which we talk to academics whose work is featured in the latest batch of short, practitioner-focused ERNOP Research Notes. In this episode we hear from:

• Marlou Ramaekers from Vrije Universitat in Amsterdam, on how behaviour modelling and encouragement from parents and partners influence our informal volunteering
• Nina Sooter from the University of Geneva, on using virtual reality for fundraising
• Livia Ventura from the Cambridge Institute of Sustainability Leadership, on applying a theoretical lens to our understanding of B Corporations.

Related Links:

• September 2023 Edition of ERNOP Research Notes
• Marlou's paper "Informal Volunteering and Socialization Effects: Examining Modelling and Encouragement by Parents and Partner"
• Nina's paper with (Giuseppe Ugazio), "Virtual reality for philanthropy: A promising tool to innovate fundraising" 
•  Livia's paper "Philanthropy and the For-profit Corporation: The Benefit Corporation as the New Form of Firm Altruism" 
• Previous Philanthropisms/ERNOP partnership podcasts: number 1 and number 2
• The Why Philanthropy Matters website

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In this episode we talk to Aaron Horvath, a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Stanford University's Center on Philanthropy & Civil Society, about his research on how nonprofits responded in an unexpected way to new regulatory reporting demands- going well above and beyond what was expected of them. Including:

• What is the notion of "supererogation" and how is it applied in this research to analyse the response of nonprofits to new accountability demands?
• Why did nonprofits choose to report more than was asked of them?
• Are there any risks involved in doing so?
• What form does supererogation take? Is it primarily narrative (i.e. nonprofits adding contextual written information to “tell their story”) or do they also create alternative quantitative measures?
• Is supererogation with respect to external measures a demonstration of empowerment, or does it reflect disempowerment?
• Why has there been an increased emphasis on measurement and metrics in the nonprofit world?
• Is there a danger that external metrics reinforce the tendency for nonprofits to see themselves as accountable to regulators, funders or donors, rather than to their recipients?
• Do rankings and ratings lead to a greater degree of homogeneity in the nonprofit world? 
• Is the desire to have metrics that can be applied equally to all CSOs regardless of cause area fundamentally misguided?
• If there are elements of value in the work of civil society that we cannot capture in any of our current measurement systems, do we need to find better ways of measuring, or give up on the idea that everything is measurable?
• Has the tide turned against metrics and impact measurement in the nonprofit world in recent years? If so, why?
• Why have LLCs become popular among certain groups of elite donors? Should we believe the narratives about a greater desire for flexibility, or be sceptical about whether it is driven more by a desire to bypass mimimal transparency and accountability requirements?
• Do LLCs undermine the “Grand Bargain”, in which the power to influence through philanthropy is balanced by accountability to wider society? Was this Grand Bargain actually functioning in practice anyway?

Related links

• Aaron's paper "Organizational Supererogation and the
  Transformation of Nonprofit Accountability"
• Aaron's website
• Aaron's HistPhil piece "Civil society by the numbers? Nonprofits, accountability, and the creative politics of quantitative discipline"
• Aaron's article for Alliance (with Micah McElroy) "LLCs – Good apples from a rotten tree"
• Aaron's essay in the 2022 Stanford PACS Blueprint, "Counting Alone?"
• Philanthropisms podcast with Michael Thatcher of CharityNavigator
• WPM article on the history of attempts to count charitable giving

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In this episode, we talk to Lorena Gonzalez and Jes Olvera from the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights about their work supporting unaccompanied child migrants in the US, and what it means to put justice at the heart of their approach to philanthropy. Including:

• What is the current landscape of philanthropic funding for immigrant rights like in the US?
• The issue of immigration is highly politicised (especially in the US), so when working as a funder in this field do you try to depoliticise it, or accept the reality that it will inevitably be seen through a political lens and work accordingly?
• Is philanthropy too often paternalistic, and centered on decisions being made about communities rather than by them?
• Can “funder ego” or “saviour mindset” present barriers to genuine efforts to share power?
• Is this a particular problem when working with children, because there is a natural tendency to act in a paternalistic way towards them and want to “save” them?
• What happens when there is also a racial element to this power dynamic?
• How can funders overcome any concerns they might have about the perceived risks of shifting power into the hands of young immigrants?
• What is Community-Centric Fundraising, and why has the Young Center adopted these principles in its work?
• Why is core-cost and multi-year funding so important when supporting movements and grassroots orgs?
• Does a focus on justice and solidarity require taking a different approach to philanthropy? What does this mean in practice?
• Does viewing things through the lens of justice change the nature of the relationship between funders and recipients? (I.e., they are no longer “beneficiaries” in receipt of a “gift”, but rather able to make justice-based claims for things they are due by rights).
• Do we need to measure impact in social change or social justice philanthropy? If so, how can we do it in a way that helps rather than harms grantees?

Related links:

• The Young Center’s website and blog
• Lorena and Jes’s guest article for Why Philanthropy Matters, “Solidarity NOT Charity – What it means to be a funder in solidarity with immigrant communities”
• Sign up for the Young Center’s upcoming free online event with author Isabel Allende
• Sign up for the Young Center's upcoming Waymakers Race, Walk, Roll fundraising event (September 15-October 1)
• Understanding White Supremacy Culture
• Volunteer as a child advocate
• The Principles of Community-Centric Fundraising
• Philanthropisms podcast episode with Martha Awojobi
• Philanthropisms podcast episode with Sara Slaughter and Derek Mitchell
• Philanthropisms podcast episode with Derek Bardowell
• Philanthropisms podcast episode with Sadaf Shallwani

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In this episode we talk to Martha Awojobi, Founder/CEO of JMB Consulting about the upcoming BAMEOnline conference and about what it means to bring the principles of anti-racism to bear on philanthropy, charity & fundraising. Including:

•  How did the BAMEOnline conference come about, who is it for, and why is it needed?
• Does philanthropy and the charity sector have a diversity problem?
• What does it mean for organisations in the charity and philanthropy world, and those working in them, to be anti-racist?
•  Is racial injustice such a big/cross-cutting issues that it should not be seen as a cause area, but rather as something that is the responsibility of ALL philanthropic funders and nonprofits?
• Is the momentum we saw following the murder of George Floyd in 2020 being maintained, or are racial justice efforts already stalling? 
• Can “funder ego” or a “saviour mindset” present barriers to genuine efforts to share power?
• Does prioritisation of certain kinds of knowledge act as a barrier? How is this reflected in grant application processes, funding decisions etc?
• Does the success of XR, BLM and other “new power” organisations suggest that there is untapped appetite for participation and power sharing? 
• Does the ability of social movements to be more overtly political, or to employ more challenging tactics (e.g. protest, direct action), give them an advantage over civil society organisations (CSOs) that might be more constrained by legal/regulatory requirements?
• What role can storytelling and the creative arts play in allowing us to imagine different ways of doing things?
• What is needed to get more of this in civil society and the charity sector?
• Why is it important to understand the historic roots of the wealth, institutions and practices we have in philanthropy?
• What should philanthropic orgs do about links to historic racial injustices? Is it enough to acknowledge them, or do they need to go beyond that and seek means to make reparations somehow?
• Is philanthropy a reflection of the “circumstances of economic injustice” that Dr Martin Luther King identified, and therefore too often part of the problem? How can we make it be part of the solution?

Links:

• BAME Online 2023
• JMB Consulting
• Civil Society, "EDI strategies are a ‘waste of money’, says charity consultant"
• Martha writing in Third Sector, "It will take courage, ambition and sacrifice to dismantle white supremacy in the charity sector".
• Martha as a guest on the Starts At The Top podcast and on the Charity Impact podcast
• Philanthropisms episode with Jake Ferguson & Vanessa Thomas from Baobab Foundation
• Philanthropisms episode with Derek Bardowell.
• Philanthropisms Episode with Edgar Villanueva.

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In this episode we hear from three academics whose work is featured in the latest batch of short, practitioner-focused Research Notes from the European Research Network on Philanthropy (ERNOP). We have:

• Claire van Teunenbroek from the University of Twente in the Netherlands, talking about her work on crowdfunding and philanthropy
• Tobias Jung from the University of St Andrews in Scotland, talking about his paper on how the concept of spectrality can be applied to further our understanding of philanthropy
• Fiona Fairbairn of the University of Kent, talking about her paper on charity galas and whether they are still relevant.

Related Links

• ERNOP Research Notes 
• The ERNOP research note for Claire's paper: "What is key for crowdfunding success and how can we explain it?"
• Claire's paper (with Carolina Dall Chiesa & Laura Hesse) "The contribution of crowdfunding for philanthropy:A systematic review and framework of donation and reward crowdfunding"
• Tobias's paper (with Kevin Orr) "What lies beneath? Spectrality as a focal phenomenon and a focal theory for strengthening engagement with philanthropic foundations"
• Fiona's paper, "Are charity galas still relevant? An examination of generational differences in attitudes towards gala fundraising events"
• Claire's personal website
• Tobias's profile page at St Andrews

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In this episode we take a deep dive into the opportunities and challenges that artificial intelligence might bring for philanthropy and civil society. Including:

• Why is everyone talking about AI all of a sudden?
• What do we actually mean by "AI"?
• How much of the talk about "AI For Good" is substantive, and how much is hype?
• What are some of the best examples of nonprofits/funders currently making use of AI?
• What impact will the emergence of new AI capabilites around process automation, image recognition, natural language processing, content generation etc have on the way that nonprofits work?
• What are the risks of "naive automation"? Why should make sure that there are still "humans in the loop"?
• How do we guard against the risk of systems like ChatGPT providing false or inaccurate information?
• What lessons can we learn from recent examples of nonprofits using ChatGPT and generative AI badly?
• How will AI affect the wider financial and regulatory environment for CSOs?
• What impact will AI, in the form of recommender algorithms, have on the ways in which we make choices about where and how to give?
• Could we see the emergence of fully automated "philgorithms"?
• How can nonprofits combat the risks of algorithmic bias, both in terms of how it affects them and the people/communities they serve?
• What role can nonprofits play in addressing AI-driven misinformation & disinformation?
• What role does civil society have to play in exploring new visions for a "post-work" future?
• Should we take warnings of existential risks from AI seriously? If so, what does this mean for philanthropy?
• What role should funders/CSOs play in highlighting the potential harms of AI? What barriers prevent them from doing this at present?

Related Links:

• WPM guide to  philanthropy and AI 
• Rhod's piece for NPC's 20th anniversary essay collection, "Would AI be good or bad for philanthropy? Will AI replace grant-makers?"
• NPC's recent event "AI in the charity sector: getting past the hype", where Rhod was a panellist alongside Tania Duarte of We And AI and Tris Lumley of NPC
• Rhod's Alliance article "Artificial intelligence is coming for philanthropy"
• Philanthropisms podcast 2023 Predictions episode
• Philanthropisms podcast episode on the Platformisation of Philanthropy

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On this episode, we talk to philosopher and lawyer Patricia Illingworth about her recent book Giving Now: Accelerating Human Rights for All, and about how we can apply the framework of human rights to some of the big questions about the nature and role of philanthropy. Including:

• What does it mean to use human rights as a framework for understanding donor responsibilities?
• Is philanthropy a choice or a duty?
• Do human rights responsibilities apply to all philanthropy, or just a certain portion of it? If a donor has given substantially to rights-furthering causes, is it acceptable for them to give additionally in a different way?
• Would an idealized world still contain philanthropy, or would it be one in which all philanthropy was unnecessary? If there was still some philanthropy in an idealized world, what kind would it be?
•  Is the rise of “purpose-driven business” and “compassionate capitalism” something we should welcome or be sceptical about?
• Should nonprofits always reject tainted donations, or is it possible to “turn bad money into good”?
• Can a human rights lens help us to determine whether source of wealth are tainted, and what course of action we should take? 
• In cases where wealth itself isn’t tainted through its mode of creation, but the donor may be ethically problematic, is it more or less acceptable to take the money?
• What is “moral self-licensing” and why does it provide a basis for thinking that nonprofits should not accept untainted money from tainted donors?
•  Do charities or funders that make use of “poverty porn” infringe on the human rights of recipients? What does this mean for nonprofit fundraising?
• Can philanthropy be used to strengthen democracy, or is it inherently anti-democratic?
•  How can a human rights lens help us to determine when philanthropy is acting positively even though it is running counter to democracy?
• Why is a philosophical perspective on philanthropy valuable/important? 

Related Links:

• Patricia's book Giving Now
• Excerpt in SSIR, "Tackling Moral Self-Licensing"
• Patricia's personal website
• Philanthropisms podcast episode on tainted donations
• Philanthropisms podcast episode on combining profit & purpose
• Philanthropisms podcast episode with Emma Saunders-Hastings
• Philanthropisms podcast episode with Ben Soskis
• WPM article on Patagonia and nonprofit corporate ownership
• WPM guide to tainted donations

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In this episode we take a deep dive into an issue that has been generating a lot of debate recently: is pluralism in philanthropy a good thing, or not? Including:

• What has caused the latest furore, and what has the reaction been?
• Is philanthropic freedom genuinely under threat, and if so why? Or is this just a straw man?
• Should donors and foundations be free to "engage in the unfettered pursuit of their own mission, interests and prerogatives", or are there arguments for constraining this freedom?
• Is there an inherent tension in philanthropy between individual liberty and systemic equity? How can we balance these competing demands?
• Should we value pluralism because it enables diversity of thought and values, and provides the material for a healthy "battle of ideas" that can strengthen democracy? 
• Is pluralism a necessary part of allowing marginalised groups and communities to overcome the "tyranny of the majority" and drive social change?
• Is accepting that civil society will contain things we may not like or agree with the necessary cost of pluralism? Is this a price worth paying?
• Is pluralism a noble idea in theory but naive in practice, when in reality power is skewed towards defence of the status quo and vested interests?
• Can everyday giving help to produce a form of pluralism that avoids some of the problems that come when we rely on elite philanthropy?
• Do we need to constrain pluralism, and if so how?
• To what extent is this a US-specific debate?
• Do nonprofits need to be "civil" or "polite" when they disagree? Or does this ignore the historical reality of social change?

Related links

• The letter to the Chronicle of Philanthropy that has sparked this debate, "We Disagree on Many Things, but We Speak With One Voice in Support of Philanthropic Pluralism"
• Vu Le, "Philanthropy’s equivalent of “All Lives Matter”"
• Edgar Villanueva, "Debunking the Myth of Philanthropic Pluralism"
• Phil Buchanan, "Who Is Threatening ‘Philanthropic Freedom?’"
• Philip Rojc, "The End of Philanthropic History and that Pluralism Op-Ed"
• Philanthropisms podcast with Edgar Villanueva
• Philanthropisms podcast with Emma Saunders-Hastings
• Why Philanthropy Matters article, "Voluntary Woke? Philanthropy, Civil Society & The Culture Wars"
• Rhod's article for Beacon Collaborative, "Can we agree to disagree when it comes to philanthropy?"
• Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell verdict in "Bob Jones University vs United States"
• JS  Mill, "Endowments"