46 • F I L M/ T V F U N D RAISIN G
DTV’s Derek Humphries speaks to The Resource Alliance CEO Kyla Shawyer about creating social good in a profoundly disrupted and polarised world.
CHANGING THE WORLD IN A WORLD OF CHANGE
DH: Just to set some context for readers who don’t know The Resource Alliance, how would you sum up the organisation? KS: We’re here to support changemakers, fundraisers, and people who want to make the world a better place. Fundamentally we do that by connecting people so that they can share their learning and create new ways to make a lasting impact. Historically we’ve done that through flagship events: IFC in the Netherlands, IFC Asia in Bangkok and gatherings in India, South Africa and elsewhere. Today and moving forward, it’s not just about events but about a 24/7 conversation via digital channels, events, and any media necessary! We’re powered by a massive array of worldwide volunteers, and by thought leaders and practitioners who generously share their skills and insight for the greater good. DH: I know you must meet thousands of changemakers worldwide. Would you say they face common issues? KS: Of course there are regional variations in terms of culture, political context, rate of economic development, humanitarian and environmental crises, and so on. But there seems to be a universal thirst for better, faster change. For new thinkers and social good entrepreneurs there is frustration that they are stifled by bureaucracy, often thwarted by a no-risk culture that fears change and cannot countenance failure. We are all working in the same profoundly disrupted world; in many places an increasingly polarised world where people are more and more keen to find a sense of purpose, an outlet for their values. That’s great news for good causes if they can truly align their organisational values with those of people who want to turn their personal values into action.
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DH: There’s been much doom and gloom in the world of fundraising, and talk of a model that is broken, so it’s good to hear your optimism! KS: I believe that the Chinese character for the word ‘crisis’ is made up of the two characters for ‘threat’ and ‘opportunity’? I prefer to see the opportunity. I do recognise what you mean when you talk of a broken fundraising model. But fundraising also has many beacons of brilliance that we should not overlook. The broken part is fundraising that is transactional and shallowtouch. But there is plenty of truly values-driven, deep-engagement fundraising that is working for organisations. While fundraising remains vital, today more than ever we must recognise that creating change is not merely about money. It’s about all forms of capital: human, financial, and intellectual. It’s about unlocking the potential of whatever it takes to create change. Giving money is just one way we measure that. DH: What gives you real hope that we may be heading in the right direction? KS: People! Without a doubt, people. I’m lucky enough to meet extraordinary people who are doing amazing work, often unsung, unnoticed, all over the world. I was recently in Bangkok for our IFC Asia event. We had a dozen people from Nepal, bursary-funded attendees from Bhutan, Australia and elsewhere, tech industry leaders sharing their insights, and every one of them with important knowledge to share and with much more they want to learn. It’s such an enriching and generous community. Then there’s new ideas. Take something like Jeremy Heimans’ thinking, articulated in his book New Power. There’s rich thinking there in terms of how we understand old power and new power models, and how we decide which to use or whether to blend them. I’m also encouraged by what I’ve seen through initiatives such as our Leadership Forum. Here we aim to create space not just to share great ideas, but to convene people who will generate new breakthrough thinking. That non-competitive, truly collaborative space is a rare thing and we need to create more of it. I’d say my hope also comes from the huge generosity our community has in sharing its
know-how. It’s an open-source mindset. At The Resource Alliance it’s been part of our DNA for nearly 40 years, and today we can use technology to share know-how and engage people in debate like never before. DH: When you look at IFC Asia, for example, what learnings do you take from it for yourself? KS: I took a great lesson from Katy Grennier, who spoke in the closing keynote session. She vividly brought to life the need for radical collaboration. We can all speak the jargon of 360-degree stakeholder consultation, but Katy breathes real life into this. She talks about the broken system, or systems, that we all blame for the world’s ills. What we need to do is acknowledge that we are the system. To change the system, we need to challenge ourselves to listen differently, to engage with different people and to take radical responsibility for our own actions. We all want to see change, and that means that we ourselves must be willing to change. That’s not always easy, but it’s vital. DH: Disruption, radical collaboration… what do these things mean for your own organisation? KS: In terms of events, it means ensuring that we constantly bring in fresh viewpoints, and that also means being more diverse and inclusive. That’s not a mere good intention, it’s something we vigorously pursue through robust KPIs. For example, at IFC Asia this year we had 62% female speakers. Nevertheless, we’re far from perfect. For example, our board has reasonable diversity in terms of nationality, but still has a male gender bias which we are proactively tackling. None of these things change unless you change them. As for disruption, as an organisation and across all forms of social good work, we can’t afford to just ‘keep up’, we need to lead. And in doing so, our approach to leadership, the models we use, and how we put those models into practice, must go beyond ‘fundraising’. DH: When you look across the sector, where do you see the most exciting changes taking place? KS: I’d first of all challenge the idea of a sector.
What we see instead today is more of an ever-changing ecosystem of individuals, organisations, and movements. It’s highly fluid and rapidly changing. That can be unsettling given the human need for certainty and security. But it’s thrilling in terms of our ability to mobilise and engage large groups of people swiftly. I’m hugely impressed by the social entrepreneurial start-ups that we see springing up worldwide, although there seems a particular energy across Asia. And I love the way some big, established INGOs are challenging themselves around how they are structured and truly embracing strategies of engagement. Then there’s the huge activity around crowdfunding, from individual campaigns that start small and suddenly accelerate to $20 million, to the numerous individual crowdfunders inspired by simple, unfiltered storytelling such as the stories featured on Humans of New York. Meanwhile, pretty much everywhere there are devoted intrapreneurs, changing established organisations from within. These people rarely get the same recognition as highprofile entrepreneurs, but their work can be every bit as effective. And of course, even as we speak, there will be new initiatives taking off that we know nothing about yet. In all parts of the world we see initially loose ecosystems of changemakers morphing and uniting rapidly to find unexpected power through common cause. It’s a dynamic and invigorating time to be a changemaker.
Kyla Shawyer & Derek Humphries
Kyla is CEO of The Resource Alliance, and is on a global mission to inspire sharing and collaboration among changemakers to unleash our collective power to create change. Derek is a director and creative strategist at DTV Group working on film and DRTV campaigns for good causes worldwide. Full disclosure: he is also a long-term fan of The Resource Alliance.
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