by Lucy Bernholz, Edward Skloot, and Barry Varela
May 11, 2010
Summary: This monograph explores the immediate and longer–term implications of networked digital technologies for philanthropy. Our claim is that information networks are transforming philanthropy. Enormous databases and powerful new visualization tools can be accessed instantly by anyone, at any time. We provide a brief overview of the philanthropic landscape, followed by an explanation of the “long tail” of giving and receiving. Case studies of FasterCures and the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation show how information networks have transformed the grantmaking strategies of some institutional funders. Next, we examine how networked technologies are affecting five philanthropic practices: • Setting goals and formulating strategy : how funders and enterprises make decisions about what to do, where, and how. • Building social capital : how funders and enterprises support one another, cooperate, and collaborate. • Measuring progress : how funders and enterprises set benchmarks, measure outputs, and make course corrections along the way. • Measuring outcomes and impact : how funders and enterprises know whether what they’ve done has made a difference. • Accounting for the work : how funders and enterprises account for what they do, to the public at large and to regulators. We then offer a glimpse of what is to come. While the future is unknowable to a large degree, we feel confident in predicting we’ll see an increase in the following three phenomena: • New blendings of market–based and nonmarket solutions. • Networked, boundaryless, and often temporary alliances that call for the creation of new ways of activating, coordinating, and governing cooperative efforts. • More and better data, more readily available and at lower cost. We conclude by pointing out that inequities of access and capacity prevent many individuals and institutions from benefitting from information networks. We believe the next decade will see explosive growth in networking for good, creating opportunities for creative solutions to large social problems.