#FP 17 - The Art & (preferred) Science of Philanthropy.
Ideas & opportunities for future focused civic leaders...
Hi all,
After 11 years of living in the U.S. and soaking up as much discernible knowledge as possible about movement building in the philanthropic and civic tech space, I’m back home in Australia and hoping my extra curricular activities can contribute in some small way to the new governments goal of doubling philanthropy by 2030.
Much has happened since my last post back in February, but one constant has remained and that has been living out of a suitcase (7 months and counting)! Hopefully we will be moving into a new place soon and can get back into that regular cadence of writing.
Moving halfway across the world is also just one of the big things that has happened recently. Future Philanthropy has been winning a number of awards including the winner of the ‘social change’ category at the 2022 Next Generation Indie Book Awards, the largest international book awards program for independent publishers and self-published authors, and winning the ‘social & political change’ category at the National Indie Excellence Awards. To cap off what has been an amazing few months, Future Philanthropy also became a #1 best seller in Australia in 3 categories - quite the homecoming!
Last week I also got to spend some time with Professor John List from the University of Chicago who is one of the worlds leading philanthropic researchers and previously worked in the White House and was the Chief Economist for Uber and Lyft. John gave me lots to think about in regards to my own work and whether I was actually creating art or could I write with more ‘science’ because without the science of philanthropy could my ideas about the future of the sector actually scale. It’s something that has continued to swirl in my head for the past few days and something I hope to explore more in the coming months.
Again, thanks to everyone that has continued to support my work - it's been a slow burn but this philanthropic futurism movement is well & truly kicking off :)
Appreciate y’all!
RG
What I’m Writing
The potential of Australian philanthropy – towards a new civic compact (3 min read)
Philanthropy can’t miss the opportunity to forge a new civic compact with its communities, I wrote recently for the Philanthropy Australia blog.
Philanthropy needs to expand its convening role, to be a sector that engages more fully with a broader community that’s seeking a dynamic partnership to help tackle some of the most critical issues of our time.
We must fund replication efforts if we are to scale promising social programs in our society (10 min read)
Hunger, poverty, disease: societies globally face a range of perverse problems. Though promising solutions exist, the frustration is that we can’t seem to scale their social impact to match the true size of those problems.
We fundraise for loan loss reserves in impact investing, we fundraise for organisational capacity building and we fundraise for flexible capital options, so why are we not investing in scaling solutions to the most critical social issues of our time?
So if innovation doesn’t have to be new, just new to you (and potentially in a localised context) then why do we not fund replication efforts?
Retelling the stories of our career - narrative therapy for nonprofit fundraisers (11 min read)
I have been reading up on the concept of narrative therapy after an article on LinkedIn recently piqued my interest. Not only from a personal point of view - after all, understanding our experiences are our experiences and that our past has to be seen as a window rather than as a mirror - but, also how it might relate to a recent conundrum I have being trying to unpack, that being how we perceive ourselves as fundraisers in the sector.
Book Updates
Supporting Emerging Leaders
For every Future Philanthropy book sold we wanted to reinvest 10% of the sale price into the Emerging Leaders Fund, helping to lift up new voices in the social sector. We have now made four donations - the first two being $500 to Access Youth Academy, and $200 to the The Nancy Jamison Fund for Social Justice housed at Catalyst of San Diego & Imperial Counties. Personally, both were very important to me in my own career growth, and they also espouse the values of the book, predominantly for the generational impact both seek to have on our communities.
Most recently we made small donations to help address the skills & accessibility gap in tech.
You would know a little bit about the Austin Urban Technology Movement (AUTM) through the profile of Michael Ward Jr. in Future Philanthropy - AUTM bridges the gap between the Black and Hispanic communities and the technology industry through job placement, career development, and networking opportunities.
Code.org is another amazing group in the tech space which is focused on giving every student, in every school, the opportunity to learn computer science. We are ultimately heading into a CS+x world where there are going to be computational advances in all that we do. Let’s give our nextgen the tools to identify new solutions to some of the pressing issues of our time! (this gift was also matched by Daffy CEO Adam Nash who appeared in one of my recent blog posts - 'The Case to Democratize & Digitize Donor Advised Funds')
Book Tour - San Diego Event
I had a blast recently on my stop/start book tour celebrating the launch of Future Philanthropy. It was a real honour to share the stage with the some folks I really admire & have learned a lot from in how to be an effective advocate for my community. Thank you Sara Vaz, Blair Sadler & Janine Mason for your kind words & reflections on the state of the sector & the leadership needed to drive it forward.
It was a truly humbling to be joined by so many of my peers, friends & former colleagues too - people I look to for my own inspiration - to listen to why my book & why now. A pretty good example was of the new $12.5M Squash & Education Center of Access Youth Academy, which provided a breathtaking backdrop to what is possible if you have a bold vision for change and are willing to look outside the box to achieve it
What I’m Sharing
Free Nonprofit Tech 1: Did you know you can get Canva for free if you are a nonprofit? With the Canva for Nonprofits program, you get access to premium design tools to help you create impactful marketing and campaign materials. Sign up now to get access to Canva Pro's premium features for up to 10 people (including you) in your organisation for free. I use Canva for EVERYTHING on social and cant recommend it enough
Free Nonprofit Tech 2: Since Dataro began, CEO Tim Paris has wanted to give back to our wonderful fundraising community. And now after a lot of code, sweat and tears they are proud to launch a free tool to help all nonprofits understand their fundraising.
Fundraising Intelligence (Free version) includes: fundraising-specific reports, live benchmarking and real-time analytics with one click, for FREE.
Some features in the video below👇👇👇
More information here: https://bit.ly/3uUD6zx
Sign up in 5 minutes: https://bit.ly/3uVABgg
(Sorry, right now only available to Blackbaud NXT users, other CRM integrations coming soon)
Book Endorsement: Y’all should 💯 go and get the new book (P)Luck by Alfred & Blair Sadler. It’s cleverly written, practical and contains some true pearls of wisdom that are easily adopted into your efforts to lead with conviction. Blair Sadler is one of the best leaders I have ever met and I am proud to have learned a lot from him over my career.
Job (Australia): The new Assistant Minister for Charity, Dr Andrew Leigh (amongst other portfolio’s) is looking for a new Media Advisor. Help shape the narrative for that doubling of philanthropy 2030 thing I mentioned.
Job (USA): Technologists for the Public Good are hiring an Executive Director to help build this organization. The Executive Director will set and execute the vision for the association, establishing a strategy and determining how we can best support the field of public interest technology. If you are passionate about shaping this emerging field, apply!
What I’m Reading
Do we need a better understanding of ‘progress’? - By Garrison Lovely, BBC (17 min read)
A growing and influential intellectual movement aims to understand why human progress happens – and how to speed it up.
"There is no broad-based intellectual movement focused on understanding the dynamics of progress, or targeting the deeper goal of speeding it up. We believe that it deserves a dedicated field of study,"
Top Insights From The 2021 Australian Census - F&P (Fundraising & Philanthropy) Magazine
Have you looked into the results from the 2021 Australian Census yet?
The Census provides a picture of a rapidly growing and culturally diverse population struggling with health and housing issues. But the data shows opportunity too.
F&P share the top insights from the Census and what they might mean for the nonprofit sector.
I appreciate F&P taking a look at the Census data through a social sector lens. It’s important that the work ahead is informed and anchored in data. Philanthropy must move from civic triage to seeding the solutions of tomorrow, leveraging all we have learned from the tireless work from those on the front lines but also making better cases for support based on real, not perceived need working arm in arm with those we seek to serve.