What's Next for Community Philanthropy

WHAT’S

NEXT for

COMMUNITY PHILANTHROPY A part of Deloitte Consulting LLP

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.

Instead of sitting back and remaining unchanged as the world advances, this spry centurion will need to...

PUT ON THE PROVERBIAL DANCING SHOES AND PREPARE FOR ITS NEXT ACT.

Community foundations aren’t the only ones who need to be on their toes right now.

COMMUNITY PHILANTHROPY ORGANIZATIONS OF ALL KINDS WILL NEED TO START DANCING TO A DIFFERENT BEAT TOO.

WHY?

Because the landscape around community philanthropy today looks very different than it did when many of its current practices and systems were developed.

AND THE PACE OF CHANGE IS

ONLY

SPEEDING UP.

COMMUNITIES ARE CHANGING IN A NUMBER OF IMPORTANT WAYS: DEMOGRAPHICS

are shifting, and the face of the community — and of philanthropy — is changing...

Growing diversity

Immigration

Growing influence of millennials

Aging of baby boomers

TECHNOLOGY 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

DEEP DIVISIONS across economic, political, and racial and ethnic lines are fragmenting local communities.

…and

ENVIRONMENTAL “WILDCARD” events will likely occur with greater frequency.

THAT’S A LOT OF CHANGE TO HANDLE. But that’s not all of it.

PHILANTHROPY IS CHANGING TOO.

! ! !!

COMMUNITY PHILANTHROPY IS GETTING MORE CROWDED Community foundations United Ways Place-based private funders Commercial charitable gift funds Giving circles Online giving platforms

...AND THE LIST GOES ON!

AND DONORS CAN GIVE IN NEW WAYS TOO, affecting social change by investing in socially responsible businesses and “impact investments”...

MICROFINANCE

‌ or by influencing political outcomes through political action committees.

In this dynamic context…

THE STATUS QUO IS NO LONGER AN OPTION.

For smaller organizations, adaptation may be a simple matter of

SURVIVAL.

BUT EVEN MORE ESTABLISHED AND FINANCIALLY STABLE INSTITUTIONS WILL NEED TO ADAPT 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?

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.

But remember those

NEW DANCING SHOES? What if by “flipping� orthodoxies that no longer make sense, you could explore new opportunities, and try out some new dance moves?

MAYBE INSTEAD OF JUST CONTINUING TO DO THE JITTERBUG, YOU COULD TRY KRUMPING* TOO.

*Krumping is a new style of street dancing. Kids dig it.

COMMUNITY PHILANTHROPY ORGANIZATIONS ALL OVER ARE EXPERIMENTING WITH NEW ROLES. THEY ARE STARTING TO: incubate social enterprises facilitate community dialogue advocate for policy change and much more.

THEY AREN’T JUST ONE THING ANYMORE.

IT’S ALL

VERY EXCITING

N E W

S

but where should you begin?

As with most things, it helps to have some guiderails when embarking on a new journey.

We’ve identified

FOUR KEY BEHAVIORS that can help community philanthropy organizations innovate.

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.

LOOK OUTWARDS 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.

LOOK AROUND 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.

LOOK INWARDS 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.

GET TO ACTION 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.

READY TO GET MOVING? Explore the resources on the What’s Next for Community Philanthropy website at monitorinstitute.com/communityphilanthropy

for tools, exercises, and even a few games to help you challenge old assumptions, understand your community, and imagine new possibilities for the future.

Monitor Institute is part of Deloitte Consulting LLP, a subsidiary of Deloitte LLP. Please see www.deloitte.com/us/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries. Certain services may not be available to attest clients under the rules and regulations of public accounting.

Copyright Š 2014 Deloitte Development LLC. All rights reserved.

Member of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited

BROUGHT TO YOU BY A part of Deloitte Consulting LLP

GABRIEL KASPER

JESS

AUSINHEILER

JUSTIN

MARCOUX

With support from the Council on Foundations, the C.S. Mott Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Community Foundations of Canada, and more than 15 leading U.S. community foundations.

For more information about project supporters, please see the What’s Next for Community Philanthropy website.

monitorinstitute.com/communityphilanthropy

A part of Deloitte Consulting LLP