RPA launched its Foresight & Futures Community of Practice,  to answer questions like, “How do we not only cope with change but proactively anticipate the challenges and opportunities?” “How do we transform our sector and our individual organizations to allow for sharper futures-oriented actions?” “How do we shape our capabilities, strategies, and interventions accordingly?” or “How do we democratize who shapes, defines and drives the future?”

Through a modular approach featuring five different workshops and creative activities, the second Foresight & Innovation Beehive worked to answer these questions, tackle new horizons, and to anticipate the challenges along the way.

With generous support from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Beehive was hosted at the Pocantico Center and continued the Community of Practice’s journey of emergent and applied learning where participants not only learn with each other but from one another. Participants traveled in and out of different worlds, comfort zones, formats, content, and cognitive habits.

Attendees began the gathering with opening remarks from RPA Board Chair Valerie Rockefeller and RPA CEO Latanya Mapp to set the scene for the coming workshops. From there, participants traveled in and out of different worlds, comfort zones, formats, content, and cognitive habits.

Over the course of three days, participants from around the world collectively experimented with different approaches to foresight and futures, different perspectives, and different experiences and learning formats. event examined risk anticipation, African oral traditions, and Indigenous futurism among other topics.

During this Beehive, the group also leveraged our collective knowledge to experiment with a futures focused strategy game RPA is developing to help philanthropy sharpen long-view decision-making in turbulent times.

This work is particularly timely not only because challenges are accelerating but because, at this critical time, the initiative will help accelerate philanthropy in proportion with the challenges. As a result, we hope participants will become more inventive and more courageous in tackling the challenges of today – and tomorrow.

Learn more about the Foresight and Futures Initiative here.

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