The Evolution of American Philanthropy Initiative at Annual
The Council’s 2015 Annual Meeting is only a little more than a week away! Over the past year, Council has worked with members, colleagues, leaders in the field, academics, and many other important voices to lay the groundwork for a multi-year thought leadership project called the Evolution of American Philanthropy Initiative.
The Council is committed to being a thought leader for the philanthropic field, not only reacting to policy changes and proposals, but also to actively framing the policy debate. The Evolution of American Philanthropy Initiativeis intended to help focus attention on the fundamental role and impact of philanthropy in our country's social, economic and cultural well-being.
Philanthropic organizations face many challenges today. Our communities confront wider and wider gaps as public money grows scarce, all while grave and growing challenges demand large scale collaboration. Add to that a shifting regulatory landscape that perpetually threatens to undermine established models of giving and the tasks can seem daunting. At the Annual Meeting, we’ll examine how this pressure has led some foundations to seek out innovative ways of achieving positive impact—often by working with partners outside the sector.
New Forms of Giving in Philanthropy and New Forms of Grantees to Meet Your Mission are back-to-back breakout sessions that will explore how foundations are using an array of incentives, investment vehicles, and innovative funding strategies to achieve their missions. These discussions will bring together foundation leaders with leaders from hybrid organizations that are utilizing financial capital for social entrepreneurship and business solutions to tackle some of the world's toughest challenges.
A hybrid organization speaker, Heerad Sabeti of Fourth Sector, says that the purpose of business is “shifting to align with that of philanthropy.” Sabeti’s remarks will address how foundations “can play a significant role in shepherding this transformation, while leveraging the new allies and opportunities that come with it. At the same time, he will explore how “those that don’t adapt to this emerging reality run the risk of becoming anachronistic institutions.”
A foundation panelist, Steve Seleznow of the Arizona Community Foundation, believes that foundations and hybrid organizations first need to get past the “dance of deceit” to engage in “honestdialogue and constructive engagement,” before foundations and other groups pursuing social entrepreneurship can work together as allies.
This session will provide a lively dialogue about the blurring of lines regarding what is traditional philanthropy and what is private social enterprise.
