What's the link between Halloween and philanthropy? Well, there is the obvious fact that unlike any other day of the year tonight is the one night that you can knock on your neighbor's door, ask for something for nothing, and expect to get it. There also is (used to be?) the connection between Halloween trick-or-treating and UNICEF - a tradition I grew up on and one I was thrilled to see reborn when my son brought home from school one of those familiar orange penny boxes to carry around with him this evening.
Philanthropy has grown far away from this basic human need - to give when asked. Let me say that again - the basic human need is to give when asked; its not the need to ask. When we think about philanthropy, charity, foundations, the $300bb a year Americans give and the billions more that move from person to person, community to community around the globe, we quickly forget that all that money is the result of innumerable acts of basic humanity.
This year, as we take our kids (or ourselves) from door to door, maybe we can remember the power that comes with giving. Even if it is just a candy bar given to a goblin. Or a penny to UNICEF.
"...we can only solve social challenges through the combined contributions and creativity of all sectors. There is no reason we should expect any single sector to ever solve our social/environmental problems - simply because these problems are a result of the dynamic failures of all of the sectors. In other words, business, government and independent action created our social ills, they will all have a role to play in solving them."
"[Raymond] rightly points out that the biggest advantage of philanthropic capital is its "ability to take significant risk, to seed a promising idea and recognize that all promising ideas can be failures."So here now, is my next question.
So risk tolerance or tolerance for failure, playing on the field of ideas and at at the edge of problems "where the probabilities of success are unknown, is the key playing field for philanthropy."
For many ideas, perhaps chief among them those addressing environmental issues, it may be time for other types of capital to be brought to bear. I'm particularly interested in what Raymond describes as "a multiplicity of approaches to organizational finance in the nonprofit sector...for self-reliance, sustainability, and (yes) profit" to come to the stage."
If your organization gives prizes, why? And if you have digital video of the award ceremonies or the winners at work, send it to me for the Giving Channel."Look I have won all the prizes in Europe, every bloody one. I'm delighted to win them all, okay?" she responded testily.
As an afterthought she turned around and mumbled:
"It's a royal flush."
"Why? In part because of my frustration (stemming from my previous experience with The Nature Conservancy) with the slow progress and impact philanthropy has had in the face of massive environmental issues.
The amount of philanthropic capital going into the environment isn't commensurate to the challenges. And I started to wonder if it ever would be. The slice given to the environment has remained stagnant at 3-4 percent even in the wake of green becoming the new black."
"Socially responsible investing may get a boost from venture capitalists. Investment in green or clean technologies such as such as alternative fuel development is gaining momentum. This new interest by venture capitalists follows a trends led by individual investors and mutual funds to weigh social values alongside financial reports."Here's a link to free abstract - full article is available for purchase.
Green Car Congress - Another environmentally focused automobile blog, focusing on technology, news, and politics relating to the green mobility industry.
Ecorazzi - Celebrity gossip meets environmentalism. Did you hear that Leonardo DiCaprio is building a 'green hotel' on his 104-acre private island off the coast of Belize with the owners of the Four Seasons Resort chain? No? Then read Ecorazzi.
"Bonus site: If you crave environment news from multiple sources, check out Hugg, which is like digg, but for eco-centric stories."
The author of the Green Skeptic works for ASHOKA. From my skim through both lists, the majority are essentially about how to shop with less guilt - with a few scattered voices about community activism, science, and literature. Amazingly spare philanthropic voice or presence in these blogs, so far as I can tell. Please correct me if I am wrong.
"As you can see, I am struggling with the uneasy relationship between sustainability and equality in a market and technology driven world economy, where economic and social innovation must now redesign capitalism to make it cleaner and ecologically viable, yet where the mechanisms of social/racial inheritance threaten to reinforce bio-political and social power in unacceptable ways."It is the essence of thinking across systems that raises both the inherent incompatabilities between environmentalism and economic justice, and the opportunities for bringing them together that Carter demonstrates.
(photo from sxc.hu)"...[the average non-geek is] very good at processing the plight of tiny groups of people but horrific at conceptualizing the suffering of large ones."The study looked at examples of decision making about numbers. Asked to give an imaginary sum of money to save one child, study volunteers picked a generous amount. When the option was giving enough money to save two children, the amount per child dropped by 15%. When the group of children to be saved grew to eight, the average donation dropped to 50% of the first offer.
Tuesday, July 09, 2002
Philanthropy and new capital markets
Organized philanthropy is profoundly unorganized. Those who fund start-ups don't work with those who fund established organizations.Individual donors, who provide the sustaining funds for most nonprofit enterprise (along with the public sector), are disaggregated, poorly organized, and rarely considered as strategic partners by institutional philanthropy.
The attached book outline is a work in progress, focused on how the disparate elements of the philanthropic resource pool - from foundations to individuals - could work together in more effective ways. The roles of knowledge sharing, network building, new infrastructure, and new mechanisms are all discussed. The possibility for deliberately evolving the philanthropic financial markets is emphasized. A new vision of coordinated philanthropic markets is presented for comment and disagreement. It may not be perfect, but it is a viable alternative to the current system and one that stands to better use the trillions of new dollars anticipated in the sector over the next decades.
