By Evans Okinyi
These global happenings reverberate and transform our interior landscapes as well, leaving us with no choice but to evolve our goals and values as a reflex in response. What we know philanthropy to be, and what we expect philanthropy to do, may be very different by the time our great grandchildren become our age.
23 years into the 21st century, and we can now clearly see the impacts of Y2K, its emerging technological infrastructure; the interoperability of human transactions, the globalization of human reach, the shifts in power, blurring of boundaries, the blending of categories brought about by interconnectivity, and the increased demand for co-creation and collaboration. We have embraced and integrated innovative tools – and toys – and now those tools are re-defining the future, changing our world and us. These changes, and others, affect the motivation to give, the giving infrastructure, and the areas and issues to which we direct philanthropy.
The new decade started with a tectonic reckoning brought about by an explosive global pandemic that exposed the deepened fractures of global inequalities. Racial and gender justice movements that were also a tipping point followed. Within the same period, climate change showed its hand with an unprecedented number of trillion-dollar natural disasters throughout the world, while financial crises, changes in power structures and political instability continued to wreak global havoc. The Ukraine – Russia war came upon us and brought about even more unprecedented geopolitical configurations that affected the food systems – amongst other systems – coupled with the ongoing demographic, economic, and political shift in focus from West to East. These events affected every part of society—including how we give.
In addition, how are we, the givers, changing? It stands true that the mentioned variables affect our ability to give; what informs our giving, our motivations to give, the worldview supporting that motivation, the resources we have available to give, the extent of our networks, and the connections we can leverage to mobilize resources to various movements and causes.
With interconnectedness, where do we begin? Is there an obvious point from which to start? Looking back we can see that the global shifts and changes brought with them a collective awakening both to the complexity, scale and profundity of the issues we now face, and to the extent to which there is a dire need to outstrip the mechanistic approaches that were of a previous affinity amongst philanthropists. As a result, philanthropists have been compelled to revisit and revise some long-standing practices that have kept philanthropy from delivering on its full promise to people and communities.
Given the global macro-level parallels and need for micro-level action, it is high time that givers apply a systems change lens to their work. So what are the unique opportunities for philanthropists to catalyze action on a systems level? Here are five promising focus areas:
Leveraging our agile capabilities:
Philanthropists in particular remain better placed to undertake systems work. The givers have freedom that bears agility and enables quick decision making about the role they wish to adopt in relation to current systems. Unlike other actors, givers can make independent choices about the parts of a system they consider relevant to their purpose. By investing in those parts, they can retain their freedom. The philanthropic ability to respond to change flexibly is important and needs to be done in conjunction with investment in long-term solutions that address systemic change.
Adapting to different theories of change:
Philanthropists are well endowed and can adopt and adapt to needful approaches of working in a system, like building consensus, reframing arguments, fostering innovation and disruption, amplifying unheard voices, creating institutions, growing grassroots, and most pertinent, investing capital. No one else enjoys this combination of maneuverability and meaningful resources.
Advocating for policy change as a key part of systems change:
One of the main drivers of system change is public policy. Broad philanthropic engagement in the public policy arena is still a somewhat new development in the history of philanthropy, but as givers work harder to trace and address root causes of social ills, engaging in policy change becomes a key part of developing an effective systems change strategy based on evidence-based interventions that have a keen grasp of the local context.
Transformative giving:
Philanthropic innovations are shaping solutions to some of society’s most pressing problems. There is a rise in using tools of creativity, science for art and art for science sake. We see more cross-fertilization between complementary visions by blending philanthropic categories. There also is evidence of shifting trends on-the ground in resource mobilization area, from old models to new models like: from the old model of candidate, recipients submitting extensive applications; to the new mode of philanthropists not waiting for applications but sending smart allies and AI to discover relevant causes and projects. From the old model of targeted distribution of funds to specific projects with subsequent evaluation of immediate, localized impacts to the new model of scattering micro-donations in order to seed potential for positive change. We are changing the norms, practices, and channels of resourcing for more impact.
Local giving:
There now exists a bigger emphasis of community philanthropy and cohesion to improve community well-being. For action to happen on a macro-level it has to set far-reaching roots on a micro-level so that its impact can make a resonant change. It also has to include the community within the giving context and to mobilize resources from them.
Challenging the siloes:
We can no longer ignore the interconnectedness of various dynamics and stakeholders. We are currently acutely aware that creating change requires sustained support. Different players in the sector are challenging the siloes by extending their philanthropic reach through aggressively looking for vision allies internationally as well as domestically, prioritizing cross border knowledge exchange, and broadening their perspectives on giving whilst influencing the enabling environment to amplify impact.
Our changing giving space calls for a collaborative reconnaissance of the world we live in today but also provides opportunities for philanthropy to address issues through sustainable innovations that have a positive global and local impact.
More than ever before, action for change now has to be collaborative. Givers have to influence communities, society, and the world at large, mobilize capital from diverse sources, and improve collaboration—all of which would make a significant impact on the world’s challenges. I call on development partners, corporations, multilateral, bilateral and policymakers to come together and commit to furthering the cause of development through giving and innovation.
Evans Okinyi is the CEO of the East Africa Philanthropy Network
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