Next Frontiers challenged my thinking. An injection of new concepts, and a glue to join together ideas that were already buzzing around my mind. I also met 3D versions of people I knew only from online worlds.
In my day job leading the development of the Regenerative Futures Fund, in Edinburgh, I’m immersed in this world. Most days since Next Frontiers I’ve either thought about what I heard, told someone, or chatted elements over with colleagues who were there too.
I’d like to share three short reflections on the conference. These are based around the concepts that I have returned to over the past two weeks.
Mindsets of abundance vs mindsets of scarcity
Nwamanka Agbo’s keynote set the scene beautifully. She spoke about Kataly Foundation’s approach to urgently and rapidly spend resources. Kataly is working at a scale and with an openness that I’m not sure we see in the UK. An openness around the money available and how they plan to distribute it.
I love this quote by Kataly which I came across in my post conference reading:
‘Our intention is for Kataly to be one of many experiments of how to lead with abundance in the here and now, rather than holding onto wealth for a future that may not be possible if social movements don’t receive the resources they need today’
This, I felt, was threaded through many panels – that we need more experiments, a range of experiments that lead with abundance, today. That we need to act with urgency. Not spending time feeling paralysed by the myriad issues and systems failures. Tinkering at the edges and continuing to tackle issues with downstream or midstream solutions. That resources holders have a responsibility to try new ways of working, to resource social movements, now. To be bold.
Words are easy to throw around. Talk is cheap. What’s not easy is putting this into action. Kataly – through Nwamanka’s keynote – are one of the best examples I have seen of taking urgent action with a solid focus on a regenerative and equitable economy run by practitioner funders who have empathy with the organisations and people they are supporting.
Something I wondered throughout the day and since however was how people who have, or are experiencing poverty, would feel about the idea of developing a ‘mindset of abundance’. Everything we know about poverty through the work of Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Poverty Alliance, Turn2us and others is that it’s a systemic not an individual issue. Talking about single organisation mindsets of abundance feels like unwelcome fuel for an already competitive social sector. But talking about abundance mindsets within a system, a place, feels progressive.
Who should be leading this work
I was struck by the diversity of voices on the stage throughout the day – in Scotland I’m not sure I see this in funding conversations I’m part of. There was a repeated refrain throughout the day that we must shift power along with wealth. I was left with a confirmed belief that it’s the ingenuity of and experiments kickstarted by people and organisations operating outside of our current resource allocation systems that are the ones that will – bolstered with an abundance of resource and trust – tackle our biggest societal challenges.
Reframing how much is enough
The content of the panel about the psychology of wealth has kept popping back into my mind and into conversations. It was fascinating to hear from people who themselves have inherited wealth, talking of feeling embarrassment and shame about this growing up. The question of ‘how much is enough’ especially for young people who have inherited wealth. And how they navigate this within families who are resistant to radical redistribution of wealth for the greater good. We learnt from Iris Brilliant that there is probably no amount of money that will cover all bases you could ever need to cover, forever. About the value of redistributing wealth as an important legacy to pass to children and grandchildren. And the importance of approaching money advice conversations with care and a focus on friendship, love and relationships.
Leah Black is currently leading the development of the new Regenerative Futures Fund for Edinburgh, working alongside the team at EVOC.
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