Leading to Change

Philanthropy is an important source of funding for local communities throughout the state of Florida. Individuals, foundations and corporate grantmakers gave away $17.7 billion in charitable contributions in 2007, a headline of magnitude missed by most popular sources of our community news.  That dollar figure is from a report issued annually by the Florida Philanthropy Network, a statewide association of grantmakers working to strengthen philanthropy through research, education and public policy.

There is, of course, a world of difference between where the economy was in 2007 when those numbers were reported and what has happened since.  Unemployment, the decline in the S&P, and drop in personal income eroded philanthropic assets and levels of giving in real dollars. Nonetheless, with over 4,000 active foundations and corporate givers in the state, this infrastructure is of sufficient magnitude to guarantee its recovery and continued growth. As the economy improves, you can wager that the numbers are being watched very closely for the stories they will tell about the strength and status of charitable giving. Grantmakers and nonprofits are not the only ones interested in and surveying those trends.

A recent letter from Steve Gunderson, head of the national Council on Foundations, is a case in point: Gunderson considered the question of what’s ahead for philanthropy in 2011. He takes it one step further, though, adding “when our governments are both broke and broken?”  There is a very long and rocky road between where that question begins and where it ends, qualified as it is, with an observation on the state of public entities. In the climate of today’s politics and given the downsizing of government, philanthropy looks inviting as a literal pot of gold from which to alternatively replace public funding and to pass on with sleight of hand problems once considered to be commonwealth’s domain.  If you want to get a foundation person excited, you may want to casually suggest that grantmaking budgets be appropriated to provide, say, subsidized childcare for poor and low income families for the city or county. Be prepared for a hot breeze.

So what’s the answer?  Gunderson replies (and I would echo) the role of philanthropy is NOT (emphasis added) to be “a kind of government light”.  But the response begs the question: if it isn’t that, then what is the role? It is reassuring Gunderson’s conclusion mirrored my own: philanthropy’s role is to provide leadership on behalf of charitable investments that improve society and promote positive change (though admittedly, that is a tall order in a short sentence).  Yet it is clear that foundations are well positioned to offer leadership. The needs are great, opportunities are many, and the magnitude of the mismatch between the two is a chasm the size of the Grand Canyon.

With government occupied in the process of its own economic decline, society is already well advanced with its leap into the unknown, without certainty of there being a handhold on how communities are going to manage in starkly new circumstances. This is not just about learning to live with “there is and will be less”.  It is escalating into a fearful what, if anything, will be left?  The safety net is no longer the province of just the poor. A vast immigration has begun from among the newly poor, the middle class and others who never thought they would have to ask for help.

Some foundations have always made it their business to be on the cutting edge of tough social issues, often with controversy and under fire.  But the breadth of social and economic problems facing our communities has called out the shy and tentative, to take a place on a stage and in a role perhaps not of their own choosing.  Not all will rise to accept or seek the mandate.  But in these circumstances, Foundations have flexibility to consider new priorities, try new approaches, be entrepreneurial in problem-solving, and engage new partners in their work.  Add to this, the capacity to convene, to be a catalyst for new ideas, and give a voice to what, where and why their community investments are being made, and leadership is well within their practice of the art of the possible.

We are fortunate in Florida to have a philanthropic infrastructure with depth and breadth. It alone cannot cure the wide spread pain unleashed by the unprecedented forces reshaping our political economy. But we can be, oh so grateful, it is there.

 

Advertisement