Liberating Philanthropy From Its Self-Imposed Obsolescence
How organizational culture in philanthropy serves as a big barrier to impact
This post is part of “Liberate Philanthropy,” a new blog series curated by Justice Funders to re-imagine and practice philanthropy free of its current constraints — the accumulation and privatization of wealth, and the centralization of power and control — to one that redistributes wealth, democratizes power and shifts economic control to communities. Throughout the series, we will be sharing stories from some of our most forward thinking, transformational leaders in philanthropy about how they are facilitating a Just Transition for philanthropy.
Much of the self depreciation and critique constant in the philanthropic sector can, at times, be justified. Given the lack of outside accountability and openness, it is one of the few ways to help keep the field honest.
Even with critiques flying, I want to come out as an optimist for philanthropy’s untapped potential in the U.S. Few other countries have hundreds of billions — if not more than a trillion — in resources set aside to tackle the biggest social and economic problems facing our country with no responsibilities to markets nor shareholders. It’s not enough to solve all of the country’s problems, but the resources are risk tolerant enough to support new, alternative models to what isn’t working.
But my optimism isn’t without its share of skepticism.
Even with the literal etymology of philanthropy as “love of humanity,” the financial lineage of philanthropy can be traced directly back to the wealth accumulated during slavery that later fueled the industrial revolution that now serves as the platform for our modern day economy.
These tensions of optimism and critique are alive in philanthropy’s work. As the sector diversifies to include more foundation staff who have been impacted by injustice or have marginalized identities, real questions arise about whose voices need to be centered in strategy development and decision making. The long-held belief that government will follow the innovations of the philanthropic sector is undergoing a stress test in this political moment, which is causing leaders to ask what other forms of influence and political cache their foundations can invoke to push forward change.
Does it continue to make sense to use the 5% of foundation endowments set aside for grantmaking to clean up the problems fueled by the other 95% invested in traditional markets?
With these large and sincere questions facing philanthropy, trustees, CEOs, and senior leadership are searching for pathways forward. Tokenism, trauma, and an entrenched status quo strategies are on the rise. Foundations may make the grants to do-gooding nonprofits, but rarely pause to ask ourselves why we aren’t making more progress on inequity.
With the latitude, privilege, and opportunity afforded to the field of philanthropy, what is holding us back from creating a world where all people and the planet can thrive?
I contend that organizational culture — spoken and unspoken norms — in foundations is one of the single most important factors holding philanthropies back from achieving their vision. The philanthropic sector has not made the necessary investments into self-care, professional development, team building, and other import elements of organizational culture that foster more innovation. Given the legacy of where philanthropic wealth comes from and the lack of accountability or standardization across foundations, organizational cultures have been slow to evolve and keep up with the pace of social change.
This slow pace of change is literally pushing foundations into obsolesce.
Kenneth Jones and Tema Okun at Change Work are designing strategies for organizational culture change, with a specific focus on dismantling the unhelpful elements of what they have labeled “white supremacy culture.”
Addressing white supremacy culture is not about Nazis — it is about dismantling elements of Western dominant culture that may not be serving you, your staff, and you organization all that well.
Doing the work of examining organizational culture is not about arriving at a destination, but instead starting a journey. Simply, it is about aligning the organization’s culture with its values.
As a cis-gendered white man, every day I need to work on dismantling my own tendencies to replicate the elements of white supremacy culture. I have let my perfectionism take the best of me, moved with urgency in unhelpful ways, or fallen into scarcity — either/or thinking. I can’t promise that I will never fall backwards into old behaviors at times. I can promise that every day I take steps forward in eliminating the old thinking and giving energy to new ways of being.
Leaders must constantly assess what ingredients are needed to build a strong organization that achieves great results.
For far too long, philanthropy has aimed to solve society’s problems while ignoring the troubles within its own walls. We’ve diverted our attention to focus on grantee organizations through burdensome evaluation of their work, all the while replicating many of the inequities we seek to eliminate right inside our own organizations.
No longer can we afford to ignore this critical ingredient to strong organizations. If we continue to perpetuate poor culture, the sector’s resources will become obsolete in making change. Poor organizational cultures lead to poor decisions and unnecessary risk aversion. If so, ineffective grantmaking strategies won’t be able to keep pace with the needs of those leading social change movements of the future.
Even with these big challenges, there is hope. Many of the sector’s most visionary leaders are pioneering ways to build new organizational cultures that address the pervasiveness of racism and white supremacy.
Consultants and practitioners in philanthropy like Keecha Harris, Angela Park, Linetta Gilbert and others are doing the heavy lifting to cultivate stronger cultures within philanthropic organizations to be more impactful in their grantmaking.
We have heard throughout the Liberate Philanthropy blog series from Edgar Villanueva, Jennifer Near, Alissa Hauser, and Vanessa Daniels about how their organizational or personal journeys have include stops at addressing the culture of philanthropic organizations. Tamara Copeland, President and CEO of the Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers, described how they are putting racism on the table and how philanthropic organizations are responding in a way that are making impact.
Foundation CEOs like Nicky Goren at the Meyer Foundation, Pia Infante at the Whitman Institute, Doug Stamm formerly of Meyer Memorial Trust, and Justin Maxson of the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation have all been forthcoming about how they’re learning and growing as they guide their organization through significant change.
We need new leadership models that elevate the basic humanity of philanthropy, both internally in our organizational culture and externally in our grantmaking.
Foundations can become more inclusive places to work that leverage one’s passions. Everyone has a role in creating a healthy work environment, but the tone is set at the top. The clarity and commitment by philanthropic leaders to strong organizational values and culture is gravely important to ensuring the philanthropic sector stays relevant and impactful. Taking care of organizational and team culture, ensuring that employees know they are valued and trusted, and subsequently sharing power are elements to a more just, rich culture — from which the rest of the work, strategy, and impact will flow.
It starts within. It starts with us.
Tyler Nickerson is a philanthropic advisor living in Washington, D.C. Previously he served as the founding director of investments and state strategy at the Solutions Project and Program Manager at the Dyer-Ives Foundation. You can find him on Twitter at @tylerwnickerson.
