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Constituency Listening: Using Feedback to Improve Philanthropy
In any philanthropic endeavor, listening to and incorporating feedback from beneficiaries is essential to generating meaningful social progress. Regardless of the issue area, elevating the voices of those who endure the entrenched problems you aim to rectify—and making efforts to understand their lived experiences—are necessary actions to achieving transformative change. How can you solicit feedback from target beneficiaries? There are various methods for ...
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Considering Legacy and Next Generation Philanthropy
As a philanthropist, you should consider the future. Spending down the capital you’ve designated for doing good within your lifetime is certainly an option. This is especially true if you want to disburse your assets quickly to address urgent social issues. However, many philanthropists elect to adopt a longer-term, multi-generational strategy. When thinking about your philanthropy, consider the future. Most individuals will establish a family foundation tha...
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Considering Your Philanthropy Holistically
While financial contributions are tremendously valuable, there are numerous ways to give back. The T’s of philanthropy refer to time, talent, treasure, ties, and testimony – and the most effective philanthropists deploy each of these assets throughout their giving journey. Each offers unique benefits that are valuable components of your philanthropy toolkit. To build a versatile charitable portfolio, it can be helpful to brainstorm ways to leverage each of ...
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Strive for Systems Change
To create positive and lasting social change, major improvements must be made at the systems level of an issue area. This entails reconfiguring policies, processes, and power structures to remedy complex issues such as poverty, social justice, health disparities, and more. By targeting the root causes of major problems with a holistic approach, philanthropy has the potential to catalyze enduring, transformational changes. For a philanthropist, this could mean fund...
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Conducting Philanthropic Due Diligence
For a strategic philanthropist, conducting due diligence is an essential practice when assessing whether to invest in potential grantees or collaborators. Before making a financial or any other kind of commitment to an organization, it is wise to gather deeper insight into its financial health, operating capacity, and mission alignment. How should a philanthropist conduct due diligence? At its most basic level, due diligence is simply gathering information...
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Constituency Listening: Using Feedback to Improve Philanthropy
In any philanthropic endeavor, listening to and incorporating feedback from beneficiaries is essential to generating meaningful social progress. Regardless of the issue area, elevating the voices of those who endure the entrenched problems you aim to rectify—and making efforts to understand their lived experiences—are necessary actions to achieving transformative change. How can you solicit feedback from target beneficiaries? There are various methods for ...
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How to Evaluate Returns on Philanthropic Investment
It is essential to evaluate and assess the return on your philanthropic investments to achieve maximum impact. Taking time to reflect on the successes, failures, and outcomes of previous philanthropic efforts can only improve your strategic approach to new charitable ventures. How can you assess philanthropic impact? Impact measurement is a relatively new field that is still growing and developing. While there are no standardized criteria or methods to mea...
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Strive for Systems Change
To create positive and lasting social change, major improvements must be made at the systems level of an issue area. This entails reconfiguring policies, processes, and power structures to remedy complex issues such as poverty, social justice, health disparities, and more. By targeting the root causes of major problems with a holistic approach, philanthropy has the potential to catalyze enduring, transformational changes. For a philanthropist, this could mean fund...