“Collective action can advance progress, especially when the world is in what Katherina Rosqueta, founding executive director at the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for High Impact Philanthropy, calls ‘an era of much more political polarization.’ ‘When you have political polarization, different stakeholders who have different perspectives on what the right thing is to do can’t come together to advance good policy that could help everybody,’ she explained.
This makes traditional policy advancement difficult. Supporting social movements is another way of creating sustainable change. One of CHIP’s frameworks discusses the tradeoffs and risks of funding different strategies, including advocacy, and states that despite the high reputational and political risk that comes with supporting a specific cause, it can lead to more sustainable change. ‘Is the social movement’s aim consistent with the funders’ mission? If so, then, funders can look for existing nonprofits with capabilities to contribute to that movement,’ Rosqueta said.
Grassroots’ report states that by financing social movements, philanthropies can ‘directly resource the power-building efforts that are necessary to create deep transformation in systems, structures, and culture toward social, economic, and ecological justice.’ Doing this while being cognizant of the wrongdoings that created philanthropies in the first place is what the report refers to as ‘solidarity philanthropy.’
Rosqueta, who is also faculty codirector at the High Impact Philanthropy Academy, which runs a course for grantmakers on how to unlock the potential of their philanthropic activity, suggested funders look for existing nonprofits with capabilities to contribute to its own aims and explained that philanthropy doesn’t have to be specific to the giving of wealth but could also mean engaging in other ways – such as advocacy and public education efforts, working with the media to change the narrative around a cause, or impact investing. ‘Those are all ways that philanthropy can punch above its weight and create greater change,’ she said.
‘The donors are the ones that need to be working harder to understand how impact can happen,’ Rosqueta said. ‘How are these organizations making change happen, and how can I enable that? That’s where the conversation needs to go.'”
Read the full article: https://www.devex.com/news/should-philanthropic-organizations-partner-with-social-movements-111126