The ongoing increase in societal challenges is being mirrored by an increase in the number of people who want to help bring about positive development and change. Here we have selected some of the emerging trends that will shape the landscape of philanthropy and foundations.
These are some philanthropic trends that promise to create a more impactful and meaningful world.
In the United States, billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott is at the forefront of what has come to be known as ‘flexible funding’ - she has donated large portions of her fortune in the form of one-time, unrestricted gifts to various institutions and organisations, while placing a strong emphasis on the selection of organisations. Flexible funding contrasts with the concept of venture philanthropy, which has been trending over the past two decades and is described as philanthropy based on the business world's structures of targeted project funding and impact measurement. While we continue to see a strong interest in clear and measurable impacts of our clients' philanthropic efforts, we also see a movement towards more flexible funding to organisations that can direct funds where they see fit.
You don't have to limit yourself to philanthropic engagement once you have found what you are passionate about. More and more people, both companies and individuals, are bringing their values into their other commitments, for example in their business and investments.
The Norwegian Laerdal Group, for example, develops healthcare-related solutions and programmes with a focus on lifesaving. Each of the group's business units - a commercial company, a research foundation and a venture capital fund - has a clear common goal.
With ‘helping save lives’, they will contribute to one million more lives saved, every year, by 2030. The common vision creates a common thread, clear values and focus.
In the Safer Births Bundle of Care program by Laerdal, health workers train together in their own hospitals in weekly brief sessions to ensure they get and maintain important lifesaving skills to help newborns and mothers survive birth. Health workers can select from easy to more challenging simulated cases to practice on, and afterwards get an automated feedback on what they did well and what areas they can improve.
Collaboration in philanthropy is increasing at all levels. Foundations and philanthropists want to work together to maximise the impact of their work and different sectors are contributing jointly to finding solutions. Collaboration is also increasingly taking place between funders and the target groups they aim to benefit, which is an important prerequisite for success.
New financing models are emerging, often referred to as blended finance, as a way to achieve more sustainable financing. It is usually defined as the strategic use of development capital - private or public - to mobilise commercial investment in developing countries. There are also examples of social change projects in our neighbourhood that use similar financing models. This means that philanthropic capital is used as seed funding to develop social impact projects to a level where they become attractive to commercial investors. The philanthropist takes the risk and acts as a catalyst by enabling more projects with social impact potential to reach the market and achieve greater impact. Such philanthropic capital can also enable capital injection from public funders, such as the EU, Vinnova or the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth, whose requirements are often at least 50 per cent co-financing. In this way, your capital can be doubled and contribute to larger and more ambitious projects.
Whatever your goals and passions are, we help you reach them. If you would like more information about our Philanthropy and Foundations offering, we are happy to arrange a meeting with one of our client executives.