Philanthropic organisations play a bigger role than just the size of their grants.
In addition to enabling a project, a donor’s grant nourishes an ecosystem of ideas, practices and actors that are directly or tangentially linked to the objectives of the funded project. Funding a project also signals to other actors – think tanks, non-governmental organisations, start-ups, community initiatives, activists, knowledge organisations, etc. – what ideas to focus or refocus their energy on.
In our current society where governments are eager to outsource their responsibilities and the wealthy are gaining even more influence, the slack in public funding to the so-called third sector is being picked up by philanthropy. In this political economy of contested ideas and different visions for the future, the power held by the philanthropic sector has real consequences on the constellation of ideas and practices that decide our future and shape who we become as a civilisation.
This is why our new report, Philanthropy in the Age of Excess: Survey of Funders’ Attitudes on Overconsumption – presenting the attitudes of staff and governors of philanthropic organisations – is so critical and timely. These organisations have a major responsibility that can be wielded for broader good and shared prosperity.
Climate change is a symptom – a manifestation of skewed economic structures banked on inequality and without regard for planetary equilibrium. Overconsumption, a central feature of the economy and a root cause of climate change, makes the problem extra sensitive to the sources of philanthropic wealth and power.
This has led to tacit and tactical acknowledgement of the environmental and social tensions, but with a twist in preferred “solutions”.
Approaches that view climate change and inequality mainly as technical and economic problems tend to prioritise the funding of new technologies and programmes that increase purchasing opportunities for the poor. Rather than driving any substantial changes in wellbeing, such approaches have inadvertently doubled down on a slightly more efficient version of the same economic system that has led us to this socio-ecological dysfunction, without addressing the root causes.
But we will not address climate change without addressing inequality in our society, and we will not address inequality without addressing over- and under-consumption.
Our report presents signs of growing awareness of this tension among staff and governors of philanthropic organisations. It also shows early steps forward and an increasing funder willingness to play a pro-active role in changing the status quo. Hopefully findings in this report by Hot or Cool Institute and its partners can contribute towards the evolutionary shift that is needed across philanthropy and wealth systems if we hope to survive and thrive in the next half century.
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This blog serves as the foreword of Hot or Cool’s report, Philanthropy in the Age of Excess: Survey of Funders’ Attitudes on Overconsumption. Read the full report now.
