Conference Presentation, Panel, Fireside Chat
Leverage: How Philanthropies Use New Tools to Create Change
Milken InstituteMelissa Stevens, Marlo Gottfurcht Longstreet, Thomas Meredith, Brian Sheth, Todd Wagner
- The Center for Strategic Philanthropy plans to develop new tools and operating models to evolve alongside investors, private companies, and governments for solving large-scale problems.
- Environmental preservation investments are projected to generate approximately 110x returns in real dollar terms per billion dollars invested through services including clean water, air, food, arable farmland, and soil preservation.
- Charity Network intends to transition 501(c)(3) organizations, celebrities, and brands into digital fundraising methods to increase efficiency and reach a global audience of 200,000 people.
- The nonprofit sector is expected to face consolidation due to an estimated 1.5 to 1.6 million foundations in the United States operating with inefficient, low-salary staffs.
- Compensation for nonprofit fundraising professionals is projected to become substantial as salaries are recognized as critical to organizational sales and relationships.
- Technology is anticipated to drive best practices and workflows by codifying solutions, with expectations that software and technology will move faster in the next 10 years than in the previous 50.
- Future technology adoption, including VR, AR, AI, and deep machine learning, is expected to create communities connecting entrepreneurs with global resources and shared experiences.
- Genome sequencing technology is expected to become increasingly affordable, enabling direct access to cancer gene tests like P53 and BRCA without doctor involvement.
- The nonprofit sector is expected to shift metrics from input costs to output outcomes, adopting analysis similar to public equity markets to identify top performers.
- Nonprofit compensation structures are projected to align with performance metrics and scientific milestones to attract top talent and justify higher salaries comparable to the for-profit sector.
- Organizations are expected to face mission creep and reduced effectiveness if they fail to manage bureaucracy and define clear success metrics early on.
- Philanthropy is projected to integrate into company culture as a front-table priority rather than an afterthought, driven by millennial demand for purpose and defined impact.
- The movie industry is expected to continue disrupting through digital innovation, overcoming initial resistance to become a major revenue generator similar to the VCR and streaming models.
- Policy changes addressing both demand and supply sides are expected to successfully tackle complex issues such as ivory poaching and the ban on ivory in China.
- Repealing the Johnson Amendment for 501(c)(3) organizations is predicted to have negative consequences, potentially leading to organizations being exploited for counter-mission donations.
- Public financing of elections is hoped to be implemented to reduce billions spent on campaigns and increase societal wisdom.
- Donors who lack expertise are expected to require a balance between dependency and expert-driven mission focus to prevent mission creep.
- The sector is expected to move away from "feasibility studies" and the "no" mindset, instead engaging in difficult debates and making decisions that appear unreasonable to solve wicked problems.
- Organizations are expected to adopt a "startup" perspective focusing on outcomes and right leadership to effectively solve intractable problems and stop recreating solutions.
- A shift in storytelling from "how" and "what" to "why" is expected to be necessary to effectively engage donors and leverage emotional hooks similar to successful for-profit companies.
- Collaboration and the sharing of knowledge and research are expected to be critical for the future of medical philanthropy in solving complex genetic issues.
- The sector is expected to utilize objective sources to study companies and report on best practices to stop the inefficiency of organizations recreating the wheel.
- The "VIRB" company model is expected to be utilized by corporations to sell employee loyalty and purpose to millennials who have high churn rates.
- Overhead and program expense allocation are expected to cease as primary metrics in favor of revenue and sales-side analysis by subject matter experts.
- The sector is expected to eventually view philanthropy as integrated into company culture rather than a way to "get rid of" demands or treat it as a "kiddie table" activity.
- Technology is expected to become inseparable from every business, changing the nature of conversations across industries and driving workflow beyond simple distribution.
- The sector is expected to require a mindset shift to incentivize entrepreneurship and risk-taking, moving away from the "hammer and a nail" bias of existing solutions.
- Measuring the value of a single life saved or a pristine environment is expected to enable organizations to justify work and communicate outcomes effectively to donors.
- High salaries for nonprofit leaders are expected to be justifiable once the industry adopts better metrics and science-based fact-finding similar to the for-profit world.
- Organizations must listen to non-expert donors to create a balance between donor dependency and expert-driven mission focus to avoid mission creep.
- The sector is expected to adopt metrics and subject matter expertise found in public equity markets to allocate money more successfully and identify top charities.
- Compensation in the nonprofit sector is expected to reflect high-performance principles rather than low overhead metrics as organizations demonstrate effectiveness.
- The "hammer and a nail" bias is expected to plague the sector until a shift toward objective, data-driven analysis occurs.
- Organizations are expected to need to stop "being polite" about the problem of having too many organizations to drive efficiency.
- Technology is expected to play a central role in future philanthropy by moving beyond simple distribution to driving workflow and community building.
- The future of philanthropy requires a shift from "how" and "what" to "why" to effectively engage donors and leverage emotional hooks.
- The sector must change its culture to incentivize entrepreneurship and risk-taking to solve intractable problems.
- Compensation changes in the nonprofit sector are expected to result from better metrics and defined outcomes.
- The sector is expected to stop "being polite" about the problem of having too many organizations.
- The sector is expected to adopt a "startup" perspective to solve wicked problems effectively.
- The nonprofit sector is expected to align compensation with performance metrics to attract top talent.