Wings – The Philanthropy Transformation Initiative Report – Enabling change, walking the talk and cr

“Philanthropy’s Transformation” is an interesting report on philanthropic effectiveness; it represents a collective and unified effort from various philanthropy networks, advisories, support organizations, academic centres, and funders worldwide. The overarching goal is to challenge the philanthropic field to have a greater impact by consolidating collective insights and global experiences into a single framework.

The initiative centres around ten transformative principles:

1. Act with transparency, openness and accountability

2. View philanthropy as risk capital

3. Practice trust, distribute power and support local agency

4. Engage with relevant actors and sectors through

multi-stakeholder partnerships and joint action

1. Invest in strengthening giving ecosystems, and grow philanthropic

2. Align governance, leadership, management and organisational culture with values 

3. Embrace a systems change mindset and address the root causes

of challenges

1. Leverage all our assets: investments, resources, influence, and expertise 

2. Leverage the power of data

3. Keep humanity’s future in sight and integrate the polycrisis lens

The three key messages from the initiative apply at an individual, organizational, or field level.

1. A shift in mindset, moving away from viewing philanthropy as mere achievers of impact to embracing the role of enablers who serve others and drive change on a broader scale.

2. Harness philanthropy’s assets beyond grants or operations, harmonizing all aspects of their work. This involves prioritizing values, leadership, influence, endowments, programming, and promoting positive practices in wealth creation.

3. The importance of adopting a long-term perspective and considering the impact on future generations. The focus is on contributing to the betterment of society by actively shaping a positive and sustainable future.

Over forty members of the philanthropy community have contributed their insights and experiences to this report. The authors see this initiative as an ongoing effort with the aim of creating a lively movement that continuously evolves and brings positive change to the philanthropy sector and the world. 

The document in full can be found here