"Philanthropy is purportedly rooted in a 'love of humanity', yet its operating systems are often transactional. Of course, "philanthropy" encompasses an extraordinary range of actors, from small family foundations to major multilateral donors, and not all fall into the same patterns. Still, the prevailing norms that govern much of the sector-short grant cycles, risk aversion, and an emphasis on measurable outcomes-tend to shape behavior even among those trying to work differently."
"Too often, donors equate success with easily counted outcomes: hectares protected, tons of carbon sequestered, or numbers of beneficiaries reached. Yet much of the real progress happens off-ledger. An Indigenous woman leader breaking taboos to speak about gender-based violence, villagers reviving their language classes without outside funding, or waste pickers returning from international exchanges to form cooperatives are not "soft" outcomes; they are signs of social resilience."
Philanthropic systems often rely on short grant cycles, risk aversion, and narrow metrics, which prioritize easily counted outcomes over deeper, harder-to-measure social changes. Many essential impacts — cultural revival, shifts in social norms, organizational learning, and capacity-building — occur off-ledger and require time, trust, and flexibility. Effective support involves treating grants as two-way relationships, underwriting learning and pivots, and accepting failure as part of innovation. Funders should provide longer-term, flexible, and core funding; simplify application and reporting; support safety and governance; and invest in locally led networks and adaptive monitoring that values qualitative change alongside quantitative indicators.
Read at Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
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