Giving in Challenging Times

Addressing the World’s Largest Challenges

Sustainable Development Goals

The Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs, are a set of 17 goals, with 169 targets set to achieve them, that lay out a framework for creating a more sustainable planet by 2030. Known formally as Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the SDGs were formally adopted by the United Nations and its member states in 2015. They ask that all countries, of all incomes and situations, “promote prosperity while protecting the planet.” (2) The SDGs include goals like ending poverty, combating climate change, and protecting the natural world—all goals that most of us would identify as “sustainable” fairly quickly. However, they also include a number of societal issues. Goal 10 (Reduce Inequalities) and Goal 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions) recognize that if we don’t tackle the crumbling foundations of our societies together, we’ll face much more trouble than we’ve seen thus far. Key environmental and social issues are intertwined, and they may be reaching a tipping point.

Alongside the SDGs themselves, the SDG Philanthropy Platform was created to help foundations and other donors work together to find transformative solutions in service of achieving their shared goals. Launched in cooperation with the UN Development Program, RPA, the Foundation Center, and the Conrad N. Hilton and Mastercard Foundations, the SDGPP helps connect like-minded funders, governments, businesses, and other organizations through an interactive website and in-person community events. With goals so big, there’s a place for everyone; the SDGPP helps interested parties find information on country-specific issues, identify likely partners for their efforts, track overall progress, and learn from each other. The SDGs, and the SDGPP, are examples of how global communities are recognizing the magnitude of the current challenges we face—and taking collective action to fight for a better future.

“A sustainable world is one where people can escape poverty and enjoy decent work without harming the earth’s essential ecosystems and resources; where people can stay healthy and get the food and water they need; where everyone can access clean energy that doesn’t contribute to climate change; where women and girls are afforded equal rights and equal opportunities.”
– Ban Ki-Moon, former UN Secretary General

Creativity in the Wake of Disaster

The 2008 Financial Crisis

After the global financial crash of 2008, many philanthropists were unsure how to move forward—and rightly so. Some foundations wondered whether they should scale back their giving to preserve the corpus of their resources, or dig in and give more to address the real and urgent needs around them. Many decided that their money was needed then more than ever. At that time, RPA counseled that donors shouldn’t shy away from short-term solutions, like grants to food banks or shelters, even if those funds didn’t quite match their giving strategy. Many did so, providing crucial support to those who had lost everything. One San Francisco duo, for example, put some of their less time-sensitive projects on hold in order to divert more funds to emergency services for the poor. Later, when the dust had settled, they reconvened to offer new funds to an organization that helped end poverty by advising people about public benefits and financial assistance. In this way, their projects provided both short-term and long-term benefits.

Overall, philanthropists showed a great deal of creativity in the face of financial disaster. Three institutional funders banded together to support the organizations that a fellow foundation had to leave behind after it folded, its endowment decimated by Bernie Madoff’s investment fraud; an Alaskan foundation pushed for legislation to encourage ordinary Alaskans to donate more to nonprofits, even as it gave grants to help communities start their own local funds. We remain hopeful that the same spirit will fuel current efforts to reshape the world.

“There’s no ‘fixed formula’ to lead in turbulent times.”
– Robert Albright, Collective Impact Forum

Bringing Your Unique Skills to the Table

IKEA Foundation and UNHCR

Whether forced to flee from war, economic hardship, or political violence, refugees around the world face a constellation of hardship. The global migration crisis, and the diaspora that results, has confounded governments and citizens alike in the search for solutions: roughly 65 million people are forcibly displaced around the world, roughly half of them children. Issues like this are huge and multifaceted; they can seem far too complex for even the most knowledgeable donor. However, in this and many other cases, it is possible to ask, “What piece of this can I tackle?”

The IKEA Foundation, in response to this question, decided that it could lean on its expertise: fitting a do-it-yourself product into a manageable box, but this time in service of Syrian refugees. Forming a partnership with the UN High Council on Refugees (UNHCR), the foundation funded the creation of the Better Shelter structure, designed by a Swedish social enterprise of the same name. It’s made of thick plastic to block the wind and cold, can be assembled in four hours, and lasts up to three years—six times longer than a traditional refugee tent. Families inside can stand up with space to move around; they can also lock the door, offering crucial privacy and security for those who have withstood serious trauma.

With over 2.5 million people having lived in refugee camps over at least five years (5), an innovation on the flimsy cloth structures that usually house entire families is long overdue. Drawing on complementary areas of expertise—the specific challenges of the migration crisis on one hand, modular design on the other – the team behind the Better Shelter was able to look to those who were most in need and draw on their own strengths to offer something new and effective.

“Private-sector innovation in the humanitarian world often has a bad name…But the Better Shelter is a real improvement—from its flexibility to it being the only shelter of its kind you can actually stand up in…It offers a chance for basic, dignified living.”
– Dr. Tom Corsellis, Executive Director, NGO Shelter Centre

Creating Space for Adjustment

Anonymous Family Foundation

An anonymous foundation in its second generation of family leadership has supported land and wildlife conservation efforts throughout the Rocky Mountain West for over 15 years. In 2014, the foundation adjusted its giving priorities to align with conservation efforts at the federal level. The federal government owns roughly 640 million acres of public land, most of it in the West, and makes some of that land available for lease for private purposes that include ranching, logging, and fossil fuel extraction; roughly 40 percent of the coal the United States produces comes from public lands. The Obama administration had begun modifying policies around the management of oil, gas, and coal extraction on these lands in ways that would enhance environmental protections and mitigate climate change. Changes in policies at the federal level created an opportunity for the foundation to support public policy advocacy efforts that would help ensure the success of these protections.

The Foundation and its grantees prepared for end-of-year grantmaking in 2016, assuming that these policies would continue under the next administration. The November election upended those plans, and the trustees faced, instead, the new administration’s commitment to “bring back coal” as part of an effort to achieve “energy dominance.” But, a few specifics aside, it was unclear how these efforts would unfold. The Foundation leadership knew it needed to shift plans for its 2017 grants, and quickly, but the uncertainty of the post-election period complicated its planning.

Moreover, grantees were confronting the same uncertainty and assessing their resources, tools, and capacity to protect prior gains. Through extensive and thoughtful engagement with organizations in the field, the donor recognized the importance of creating space for each grantee to adjust its strategic approach as it saw fit. As a result, the Foundation included a clause in its grant agreements explicitly empowering grantees to shift their work in directions that, while consistent with the Fund’s priorities, could be adapted for new, more directly responsive uses. They could act quickly and report later. With this action, the Foundation’s trust in its grantees’ analysis and expertise allowed for opportunities that could not have been predicted at the beginning of the year. For example, advocates achieved an unexpected success in protecting a rule pertaining to methane emissions, an effort that yielded important clues as to the path forward for conservation and climate change efforts in the years to come.

The lesson other funders can take is that trust is the bedrock of a relationship between donor and grantee. Particularly in uncertain times, the most effective strategy can simply involve identifying the partner organizations that are doing work you care about, led by a confident, capable team, and doubling down on your investment of confidence and resources. In a trusting relationship, they’ll repay your commitment to them in the best possible way – and often through the use of strategies that are apparent only to those closest to the problem.

“After the election, we had to recalibrate our approach to many aspects of our work. The Foundation allowed us an opportunity to provide our goals for operating in this new world, with the flexibility to adapt to new developments…This approach made us feel empowered to go forward and fight the fight we needed to, with the support of our funder.”
– Foundation grantee

Building Vibrant Communities

Root Impact

For new and more experienced givers alike, identifying a gap in a particular field can inspire a philanthropic project that addresses communities’ needs in a new way. In South Korea, next-generation philanthropist Kyungsun Chung saw a problem: his fellow citizens were highly educated (95% had college degrees), but they were competing for a very small number of good jobs, leading to a mounting unemployment crisis. Culturally, families were disappointed in their children’s inability to support themselves; there was a tension about how to engage people in discussion about the problem. Moreover, far too many people lived with financial hardship. Chung wanted to leverage the potential of South Korean youth – talented and bright, but lacking a way to build their careers and apply their energy toward something that mattered to them.

Recognizing that he needed to learn more, Chung contacted RPA with an interest in participating in a fellowship in philanthropy. After spending time in the United States, soaking in the knowledge of new contacts in the social sector, Chung returned to South Korea. He decided to see if he could build a critical mass of changemakers by encouraging young people to build social ventures together.

His vision grew into Root Impact, a nonprofit that creates joint co-working and housing spaces for social entrepreneurs. By putting like-minded people in the same place and allowing them to share ideas, Chung believes that inspiration and courage will follow—and that the resulting ideas will create jobs for the young South Koreans who sorely need them. Root Impact has also created community offerings like accelerators, education programs, and internships for university students. In partnership with RPA and local nonprofits, Root Impact’s model is now being replicated in Las Vegas and New York City, with the sensitivity that society functions differently in the United States. Regardless of the approach, though, the belief in the power of supporting changemakers and creating community is universal.

“We are trying to create a vibrant community of game changers in Korea.”
– Kyungsun Chung, Founder & CEO, Root Impact

Creating the Conditions for Long-Term Change

The James M. Olin Foundation

Since the 1970’s, the James M. Olin Foundation has funded legal scholarship in service of “limited government, individual responsibility, and free society.” The foundation’s leadership, fearing that law schools were becoming overly liberal institutions, committed itself to pushing against this possibility. Their approach, effective in the short term, also created impact that would resonate over the following decades. Recognizing a group of particularly passionate young conservative law students, the Olin Foundation and its key partner, the Institute for Educational Affairs, funded a conference to convene the group around their shared goals: bringing more conservative thought into targeted institutions. Dubbing itself the Federalist Society, the group grew in size and influence. It received over $2 million from the Olin Foundation over twenty years, helping to lay the groundwork for conservative policy as it shaped the minds of young legal scholars who later became judges or members of the White House counsel’s office.

The Olin Foundation has founded and supported conservative-leaning public-interest law centers, as well as centers for research, teaching, and advocacy within universities. It has also supported conservative think tanks and research on charter schools and school vouchers. With this highly effective constellation of focused efforts, the Olin Foundation retained a long-term view; its wise leadership knew that their efforts, targeted largely at students, would sow the seeds for a strong coalition of conservative-minded leaders in law down the road. Contributing to the intellectual heft and power of the political right, they successfully created a community that had the knowledge and the perspective to further the Foundation’s ideals. (8)

“The Olin Foundation’s leaders understood that success is often unplanned, and so they focused on creating the conditions for success rather than thrusting a set of detailed agendas and goals upon grant recipients…Philanthropists must have Job-like patience, because in the war of ideas there are few quick payoffs.”
– John J. Miller, Author

Changing the Narrative

Pop Culture Collaborative

It can be nearly impossible to change perceptions around diversity when entire communities lack access to people from different backgrounds. However, it’s long been recognized that art can create a window into another person’s experience. That’s the idea behind Pop Culture Collaborative, an initiative that describes itself as “an innovative hub for high impact partnerships and grants designed to help organizations and individuals leverage the reach and power of pop culture for social justice goals.” (9) The members of the collaborative witnessed the lack of authentic stories about a variety of different communities across the United States, paired with growing anxiety about race and immigration. In response, they’re changing the narrative about people of color, immigrants, refugees and Muslims in the media, in service of a more inclusive future.

Pop Culture Collaborative aims to reach people where they’re most comfortable, building cultural understanding and empathy. In mid-2017, they announced over $700,000 in grants to seven different initiatives, from social movement leaders to entertainers to research initiatives. The organization also provides rolling “Pop Up” grants in service of projects that require a quick response to social justice causes or cultural conflict. With a network of connected partners, access to a myriad of communication channels, and a committed team of investors, Pop Culture Collaborative is using every resource at its disposal to change the hearts and minds of its fellow Americans.

“Art does not show people what to do, yet engaging with a good work of art can connect you to your senses, body, and mind. It can make the world felt. And this felt feeling may spur thinking, engagement, and even action.”
– Olafur Eliasson, Artist