What business entrepreneurs are to the economy, social entrepreneurs are to social change. -David Bornstein
I’m tucked away in a remote corner of the enormous Gaylord National Hotel and Convention Center, the site of this year’s annual conference of the Council on Foundations.
Before heading over to the next event, I want to quickly share seven tips I heard today on how foundations can “push the envelope” of philanthropy.
The following ideas come from three sources:
- An interview with Bill Somerville, author of “Grassroots Philanthropy”
- A session called “Social Entrepreneurship: New Approaches to Changing the World”
- A session called “Philanthropy 2.0”
Here are the suggestions, in no particular order: Read the rest of this entry »
Note: This is my introduction letter to the Tactical Philanthropy blogging team covering this week’s annual conference of the Council on Foundations.
Depending on how you look at it, my journey to this year’s summit started yesterday morning, when I boarded the Amtrak train from Montreal to Washington DC, or last year, when Sean of Tactical Philanthropy delivered the excitement of the 2007 annual conference direct to my computer screen.
At the time, I thought to myself, “How cool would it be to blog about next year’s conference from my unique interest in microphilanthropy?” Here I am one year later, tasked with that very purpose.
Microphilanthropy eludes any simple definition. If pressed, I would define it as an inter-generational movement that is using new technology to broaden participation in grant-making.
Microphilanthropy includes online platforms that we’ll no doubt hear from and about during the sessions this week. Online platforms such as Kiva, DonorsChoose, and Facebook Causes are leading the way in democratizing participation in philanthropy. Read the rest of this entry »
Note: I wrote this blog post for the opinion blog at the Stanford Social Innovation Review. Please leave comments on the original post.
Each day in the philanthropy blogosphere, somebody spills some digital ink covering the emergence of new platforms for social action. Online communities such as Facebook Causes, DonorsChoose, Kiva, Change.org, and SixDegrees are the most frequently cited harbingers of change in the way philanthropy happens.
The attention lavished on these platforms is a net gain for micro-philanthropy. With each blog post, more people find innovative ways to support grassroots initiatives. Recently, even mainstream media outlets such as MSNBC (Facebook Causes), Oprah (Kiva), Steven Colbert (DonorsChoose), The Wall Street Journal (Change.org), and CNN (SixDegrees) are covering micro-philanthropy.
It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement that surrounds these initiatives. But maintaining a critical lens is equally important. I am concerned that few, if any, social action platforms are currently leveraging the self-organizing potential of social media to address the root causes that make online social activism necessary in the first place.
Read the rest of this entry »
For nearly 20 years, Philanthropic Ventures Foundation (PVF) founder Bill Somerville has been practicing the values and demonstrating the potential of micro-philanthropy. But there’s something remarkable about Somerville’s micro-philanthropy. It has emerged and flourished absent of any technology more advanced than a fax machine, telephone, and email account.
His recent book, Grassroots Philanthropy: Field Notes of a Maverick Grantmaker, introduces readers to the joys and effectiveness of small-scale, highly targeted grantmaking designed to support the work of outstanding individuals and innovative ideas.
In Grassroots Philanthropy, Somerville speaks to his target audience in no uncertain terms. He encourages foundation executives, trustees, and program officers: to get out of their offices; to stop pushing papers; to work alongside their grant recipients; and above all, to fund outstanding people instead of well-written grant proposals.
As I read Grassroots Philanthropy, it occurred to me that Somerville did not write the book with a digital native audience in mind. Somerville’s main point is that office towers, unnecessary meetings, paper-laden bureaucracies, and desktop computing have become barriers to effective grantmaking.
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The futures of philanthropy, fundraising, and advertising are looking remarkably similar. In all three fields, technology innovators are turning to real people to do the hard work of moving money.
Foundations are asking non-specialists to “crowd source” their grant recipients. Development teams are using “wired fundraisers” to increase online donations. Companies are relying on “fansumers” to promote their latest products.
The online marketing guru Seth Godin first reported on this trend in a series of e-books entitled Flipping the Funnel. In three versions of the same e-book, Godin addresses companies, nonprofits, and politicians. He instructs them on how individuals can be empowered to sell products, raise money, and recruit votes respectively.
Godin could easily have written a fourth version of Flipping the Funnel, one tailored to the needs of foundations and private philanthropists. The hypothetical e-book would have emphasized the important role that non-wealthy and non-specialist individuals can play in awarding grants and redistributing wealth.
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