Introduction To Decision Stories

This business of improving the world is an uncertain one. We recognize that there are good and bad, right and wrong, better and worse decisions -- but how do we figure out what is what? When acting in real world situations, we don’t have all the information, face time and resource pressures, and deal with multiple stakeholder groups?

Here’s where institutional purpose can be a guide. Institutions are collections of people and roles, organized into structures, with norms and values that reproduce themselves. Western style philanthropy is very much an institution, codified in legislation and embedded within our tax system.

Ethicists and philosophers tell us that making institutional purpose, values, and decision-making logics explicit is a necessary precondition for discerning right from wrong, or good from bad. To do that, we need a common language through which to identify different ethical reasons for making decisions.

The blog posts assembled in Decision stories try to make visible different ethical frameworks and processes for decision-making. We zoom into community foundations as one type of philanthropic institution and ask: what are its moral & ethical obligations in stewarding collective assets? We then profile four different types of organizations who are re-imagining what representative, meaningful, and purposeful decision-making looks like.

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  Understand how humans make decisions, for better or worse
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  Explore how bias and ‘default thinking’ shapes decision-making frameworks and processes
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  Define ‘distributive justice’ and name different ways we make decisions about who gets what
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  Name and introduce different types of moral reasons and ethical values that decision makers can use as part of reflective and generative processes
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  Dive into the research on grant-making decisions and ask just how well we do at picking successful applicants
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  Share stories of organizations with decision-making frameworks and processes rooted in purpose and values

This module is jam-packed with experts in their fields weighing in on how humans make decisions, how they can make better decisions, and how our values and moral purpose can guide the most important decisions.

Ultimately, philanthropy comes down to lots of everyday decisions about how to govern and allocate resources. The choice is a question of values! This episode examines what shapes ethical decision-making.

In the Decision Stories podcast, you'll hear from:

Making sure everyone who’s affected gets a chance to be heard and active listening as a form of mutual respect form the basis of my piece. The threads surrounding the people in my illustration represent all the considerations that go into decision-making and how the decision-makers are interconnected with the outcomes.

The part of the mind which decision making occurs is at the frontal lobe, hence the black circle hovering at the forehead of the silhouette. The black circle is also the central point for the white objects. The scale is merit, the ballot is democracy, the beans are lottery, and the raised hands represent consensus.