To:
Transformational Philanthropy Community May
17, 2002
From: Duane
Elgin
Subject:
Overview of meeting on “Seeds of a New Approach to Philanthropy” held at the
Santa Fe Institute, New Mexico on May 13-14, 2002.
_______________________________________________________________________
On May 13-14, 2002 a meeting was
convened at the Santa Fe Institute to explore new approaches to philanthropy,
many involving new and sophisticated uses of the Internet. The meeting was convened by Tom Munnecke, the
VP of Applications for a large computer consulting company and brought together
roughly two-dozen, highly talented people from diverse areas to explore new
approaches to serving/helping those in need around the world. Participants included:
·
David Ellerman is the economic advisor to the Chief
Economist at the World Bank.
·
David Brin is a scientist and best-selling author
of science fiction (for example, his book, The
Postman was made into a movie in 1998).
·
Dennis Whittle worked with the World Bank and related
agencies for two decades and is now the co-founder the Internet site
“Development Space.”
·
Doug Carmichael is a strategic change consultant with
expertise in systems thinking, psychiatry, and creating Internet conversation
spaces with Big Mind Media.
·
Gavin White worked as a filmmaker in
Australia/UK/USA, in development in Latin America and the Balkans, and is
currently Vice President of Marketing at Credit Suisse.
·
Harold Koenig is a former Surgeon General of the U.S.
Navy and now CEO of the Annapolis Center.
·
Heather Wood Ion is a former CEO, consultant in both
for-profit and non-profit “turnarounds,” and the author of Third Class Ticket (about her experiences traveling around India
with the poorest of the poor).
·
Jan Hauser, formerly the chief architect of Sun
Microsystems and is now the CTO (Chief Technology Officer) of GivingSpace.
·
Jennifer Kirk is director of development for the United
Religions Initiative
·
Lisa Castagnozzi is the information technologies manager
for InterAction, a coalition of 125 International NGOs in Washington, D.C.
·
Mark Miller is the co-author of Digital path: Smart Contracts and the Third World and works in the
area of “e-rights” on the Internet.
·
Michael Litz is the CTO for the Benton Foundation in
Washington, D.C.
·
Murray Gell-Mann is a Nobel laureate in physics,
co-founder of the Santa Fe Institute, and for many years was on the board of
the MacArthur Foundation.
·
Nipun Mehta is founder of CharityFocus.org with more
than 1,200 volunteers that mobilize into small teams to develop web sites for
charities all over the world.
·
Paul Chaffee is director of the United Religions
Initiative through the Interfaith Center at the Presidio.
·
Sigfreid Woldhek is the founder of Nabuur (“neighbor”) in
the Netherlands.
·
Suzanne Dulle recently retired as International
Programs Development officer at the Santa Fe Institute.
·
Tom Munnecke is the founder of GivingSpace and VP of applications at a large computer
consulting corporation in San Diego.
·
Tony Hoeber has many years of experience working in
Silicon Valley businesses and is the founder of the Dalai Lama Trust in San
Francisco
We met for two days in the New Mexico
desert at the beautiful campus of the Santa Fe Institute, known for its work to
bring together the insights of many different disciplines in order to
understand how systems of all kinds work (from physical, biological, social,
and more). At the core of the two days
were roughly a dozen presentations of approximately 30 minutes each with another
15 minutes or more for questions and answers.
Drawing from my notes, here are the core themes that emerged from the
gathering (presented in no particular order of importance):
Re-languaging philanthropy.
At the outset, it was agreed that any meeting participant that publicly
uttered the word “fundraising” would be charged $5. This was a symbolic gesture that said, in
looking for the seeds of a new kind of philanthropy, the language we use
influences the world that we see and interact with. Therefore, one theme was on shifting the
language of philanthropy from fund-raising to trust-raising and then following
that up by exploring how trust is developed on the Internet so as to draw in
large numbers of people in an “auto-catalytic” or self-organizing process.
Trust Building was a core theme. A favorite phrase was “trust-raising instead
of fund-raising” with the implication being that if there are high levels of
trust, then support will be forthcoming.
Trust on the internet depends on three factors (Jan Hauser): 1) authentication or verifying the person
is really who they say they are; 2) reputation
or the integrity or competence of that person as evaluated by others that you
trust; 3) accountability or the
ability to insure that there are means to hold a person responsible for their
transactions.
The power of stories.
Another recurring theme was that, to build trust, people need a place to
tell their stories. With our stories we
become real, authentic. Stories are an
important vehicle for connection and Internet websites provide a way for people
around the world to tell make their life-stories and unique initiatives known
to others. When everyone’s voice is
heard, systems can be self-organizing.
Autonomy respecting
philanthropy. Another important theme was that
philanthropy does not necessarily build people’s
capacity for self-learning and self-reliance.
Instead, there is “help that is not helpful” and that can either
override or undercut the autonomy of those being assisted. Help that, in the longer run, fosters
autonomy is not easy to accomplish.
Three Do’s to foster autonomy: 1) Start where the doers are. Find out what people are trying to do and
help them do it better. 2) See the world
through the doer’s eyes. 3) Above all,
respect the autonomy of the doers.
Overall, foster decentralized, self-learning and then network local
initiatives together to foster collective learning.
Dis-intermediation of
philanthropy. There was a strong desire to reduce or even
eliminate the middleman of the traditional philanthropic institution and have
funds and skills flow as directly and efficiently as possible from the Donor
(Helper) to the Recipient (Doer). A
common phrase in this regard was “frictionless philanthropy.” In addition, many participants looked at
philanthropy in non-monetary terms, emphasizing the voluntary contribution of
talents, interests, and networking skills.
This is particularly relevant with the Internet as it erases distances
and allows teams to form around the world to assist villages and initiatives in
developing countries.
Emphasize what works.
Instead of focusing on problems, there was a strong focus on
solutions. Go after what works. Said E.F. Schumacher: “Find out what people
are trying to do and help them do it better.”
Enlist the person’s own predisposition for participation. See the positive potential in service: Nipun
Mehta said: “When you help, you see life as weak. When you fix, you see life as broken. When you serve, you see life as whole.”
The importance of scale.
A widely expressed concern was with how can we efficiently scale
philanthropy up to the global level or scale down to the most micro level
(e.g., bringing a 2 cent vitamin tablet to a poor child in a remote village).
The biggest challenges in building world-scale, Internet systems are: How to
build trust and community? How to draw
in social investors? How to identify
quality projects? How to bridge between
language and country contexts? How to
find experienced mentors? How to get
Internet access for remote locations?
Amelioration versus
transformation. I emphasized the difference between
philanthropy that was ameliorative and that which was transformative, citing
the nine attributes of “transformational initiatives” from our report. I also acknowledged that this was a narrower
focus than many of the other initiatives being presented at the gathering. Another person who emphasized
transformational philanthropy was Heather Wood Ion who described
transformational changes as being irreversible, dynamic, unpredictable,
discontinuous, asymmetric, generative, and empowering.
Levels of systems.
It was helpful to differentiate three levels of systems in designing an
Internet response to philanthropy: 1) the basic operating principles; 2) the
operating system that comes from those principles, and 3) the specific
applications.
Summarizing, this was an important
meeting, not so much because of anything concluded, but because of the scope of
opportunity that it revealed and the synergies among the diverse and talented
people that came together. Most
importantly to me, I saw the hardy seeds of Internet-based approaches to
helping relationships that are clearly working and that have the potential for
explosive growth as the Internet fosters a more highly connected and
transparent world. I also saw the
synergy of combining the “hard technologies” of the Internet with the “soft
technologies” of working with trusted networks.
Because it is so important for helping relationships to have a human
face and connection, I think there could be great value in the transformational
philanthropy project’s approach for identifying high leverage areas of support;
specifically, relying upon regular inputs from a diverse community of trusted
individuals who are in contact with “transformational initiatives” around the
world.
If anyone would like more
information about this gathering, I can be reached at: Phone:
415-460-1796 Fax: 415-460-1797 Email: duane@awakeningearth.org
A number of people have submitted papers for the Santa Fe meeting. Here are key papers that can be accessed with their URL:
Transformational
Philanthropy, Duane Elgin and Elizabeth Share
http://www.changemakersfund.org/pdf/philanthropy.pdf
Can
What Counts be Counted? OR Dancing the Measures of Transformation, Heather Wood
Ion <http://www.givingspace.org/papers/may2002/Heather1.doc>
Claiming
the Light: Appreciative Inquiry & Corporate Transformation, Paul Chaffee
<http://www.givingspace.org/papers/may2002/Chaffee.doc>
Autonomy-Respecting
Assistance: Toward New Strategies for Development
Assistance,
David Ellerman http://www.givingspace.org/papers/may2002/ellermanARA.doc
Is
Poverty Optional, Jeff Gates <http://givingspace.org/papers/may2002/gates.doc>
A savings
and literacy led alternative to financial institution building, Jeffrey Ashe
<http://www.givingspace.org/papers/may2002/AheWEP.doc>
Nabuur
Overview, Heather Wood Ion <http://www.givingspace.org/papers/may2002/Heather3.doc>
Banking
on the Poor Initiative, Jeffrey Ashe
<http://www.givingspace.org/papers/may2002/ASHEBANKING.doc>
Notes
on Representing Institutional Dynamics, David Ellerman
<http://www.givingspace.org/papers/may2002/ellermanDYNAMICS.DOC>
The
Dali Lama Trust, Tony Hoeber
<http://www.givingspace.org/papers/may2002/HoeberDLT.doc>
An
Outsiders view of philanthropy, David Brin
<http://givingspace.org/papers/dbrinEON.doc>
The
Digital Path, Mark S. Miller and Marc Stiegler <http://www.erights.org/talks/pisa/paper/index.html>