2. HOW WOULD
YOU CELEBRATE
YOUR 100TH
BIRTHDAY?
Would you still
be adventurous
enough to try
something new?
2014 marks the 100th birthday of
community foundations, organizations
that mobilize financial and human
resources on behalf of a particular
geographic community.
3. Instead of
sitting back
and remaining
unchanged as the
world advances,
this spry centurion
will need to...
Community foundations aren’t the only ones
who need to be on their toes right now.
PUT ON THE
PROVERBIAL
DANCING SHOES
AND PREPARE FOR
ITS NEXT ACT.
COMMUNITY PHILANTHROPY
ORGANIZATIONS OF ALL KINDS
WILL NEED TO START DANCING
TO A DIFFERENT BEAT TOO.
4. WHY?
Because the landscape around
community philanthropy today
looks very different than it did
when many of its current practices
and systems were developed.
6. COMMUNITIES
ARE CHANGING
IN A NUMBER OF
IMPORTANT WAYS:
are shifting, and the face of the
community — and of philanthropy —
is changing...
Growing diversity
Immigration
Growing influence
of millennials
Aging of baby
boomers
DEMOGRAPHICS
7. is changing how people connect to one
another, and to causes they care about.
Globalization and
ECONOMIC
UNCERTAINTIES
are altering the prospects of
local businesses and workers.
CLOSED
TECHNOLOGY
8. DIVISIONS …and
events will likely occur
with greater frequency.
ENVIRONMENTAL
“WILDCARD”
across economic, political,
and racial and ethnic lines
are fragmenting local
communities
DEEP
9. Community foundations
United Ways
Place-based private funders
Commercial charitable gift funds
Giving circles
Online giving platforms
THAT’S A LOT OF
CHANGE TO HANDLE.
PHILANTHROPY IS
CHANGING TOO.
But that’s not all of it.
...AND THE LIST GOES ON!
COMMUNITY PHILANTHROPY
IS GETTING MORE CROWDED
!!!!
10. AND DONORS CAN GIVE
IN NEW WAYS TOO,
… or by influencing political
outcomes through political
action committees.
affecting social change
by investing in socially
responsible businesses
and “impact investments”...
MICROFINANCE
11. In this dynamic context…
THE STATUS
QUO IS NO
LONGER AN
OPTION.
For smaller organizations,
adaptation may be a simple matter of
SURVIVAL.
12. to make sure they keep
pace with the changing
needs of local donors,
nonprofits, and residents.
Are the systems that help
your organization thrive
TODAY the right ones to serve
your users OF THE FUTURE?
BUT EVEN MORE
ESTABLISHED AND
FINANCIALLY STABLE
INSTITUTIONS WILL
NEED TO ADAPT
13. To prepare for these emerging needs,
organizations may have to start
challenging some of the fundamental
orthodoxies of community philanthropy.
These orthodoxies — deeply held
assumptions about “how things
are done” — often go unstated and
unquestioned, and can become
PROBLEMATIC
BLIND SPOTS.
14. But remember those MAYBE INSTEAD OF
JUST CONTINUING TO
DO THE JITTERBUG,
YOU COULD TRY
KRUMPING* TOO.
What if by “flipping”
orthodoxies that no longer
make sense, you could explore
new opportunities, and try out
some new dance moves?
NEW
DANCING
SHOES?
*Krumping is a new style of
street dancing. Kids dig it.
15. COMMUNITY PHILANTHROPY
ORGANIZATIONS ALL OVER
ARE EXPERIMENTING WITH
NEW ROLES.
THEY ARE STARTING TO: THEY
AREN’T
JUST ONE
THING
ANYMORE.
incubate social
enterprises
facilitate community
dialogue
advocate for
policy change
and much more.
17. As with most things, it helps
to have some guiderails when
embarking on a new journey.
LOOK OUTWARDS
for context to understand
the changing global and
local landscape.
LOOK AROUND
for inspiration to see
what’s already possible.
LOOK INWARD
at current practices to
understand your own
organization with a fresh lens.
GET TO ACTION
by developing and
testing new approaches.
that can help
community philanthropy
organizations innovate.
FOUR KEY
BEHAVIORS
We’ve identified
18. LOOK
OUTWARDS
LOOK
AROUND
Follow emerging global and local trends
and assess what they might mean for your
community. And at the same time, make sure
you have a good understanding of who is
already serving your community.
Innovation doesn’t need to be completely
new, it just needs to be new to you and your
community.
Look to “bright spots” already emerging inside
and outside the field, and don’t be afraid to
copy shamelessly.
19. Challenge orthodoxies and blind spots
that are keeping you from recognizing
new opportunities, and actively build a
portfolio of the roles that are right for your
organization and community.
Move to action by creatively generating new
ideas and then prototyping the approaches
that show real promise.You may want to
creatively think about how you play roles that
are at your organization’s core, or you might
think about “scaling edges” that could matter
more in the future.Today’s sideshow could
become tomorrow’s main act.
LOOK
INWARDS
GET TO
ACTION
