Moral purpose is missing from most hyper-rational, wordsmithed statements containing outcomes and outputs, targets and indicators. That is because moral purpose is the product of the spirit, not only of the intellect. Rational values like neutrality, objectivity, and universality allow for distance and detachment, rather than deep engagement. Author Lindsay Thompson writes:
"We are a nation of privatized morality that places corporate and civic leaders in a labyrinth of uncertainty when they try to establish a moral foundation for actions and decisions affecting the public interest...Leaders turn to reason and its assumed qualities of tolerance and respect, in the attempt to cultivate organizational cultures of moral clarity, accountability, and trust without violating the intellectual and spiritual freedom of the individuals and groups who constitute the organizational culture. The problem with this approach is that moral solidarity -- and for that matter, genuine tolerance and respect -- are not a product of the intellect; they are a creation of the human spirit."
Thompson argues that both moral clarity and solidarity emanate from moral leadership; that is, leadership attached to the exercise of social power, not positional power.
"Leadership, the exercise of social power, is fundamentally a moral endeavor. There is an inescapable moral dimension to the exercise of power, whether or not it is formally acknowledged...While leadership may not be framed in terms of morality or ethics, a sense of moral solidarity is at the heart of successful enterprise."
There’s real possibility space between institutional philanthropy as it functions today, and institutional philanthropy as it could function over time. We can fill that space with what Professor Robin Kelley calls “freedom dreaming.” That’s where we visualize the world as we want it to be. Here’s three possible purposes of philanthropy as described by podcast guests.
How do you imagine what philanthropy can be?
“Without new visions we don’t know what to build, only what to knock down. We not only end up confused, rudderless, and cynical, but we forget that making a revolution is not a series of clever maneuvers and tactics but a process that can and must transform us."
If philanthropic institutions were initially designed to soften the impact of income inequality and foster an idea of the wealthy class as benevolent protectors, at least as historian Calum Carmichael outlines in the Origin Stories podcast episode, can they be repurposed for other means and ends?
Modern foundations may identify with a more transformative, inclusive, justice- or equity-seeking purpose. Is the structure of modern philanthropy suited to such purposes?
Scott Burnham thinks so. He’s a repurposing specialist, working with cities and local institutions to re-imagine what they use their resources for. Cities and institutions are made-up of content. In the case of foundations, they are made-up of cash, investments, physical assets, financial systems, technology, human resources, relationships, influence, etc. While this content may be finite, the context in which to use that content is limitless. He writes,
"The structures, surfaces, objects, and systems that underpin daily operations have the potential to do more, to perform an alternative function, or assume an entirely new role ...transforming from limiting palettes of resources into platforms of possibilities."
Using Scott’s lingo, we can ask: how can the resources of a foundation function as a platform of opportunity? That is, infrastructure not as the end result of a previous creative or strategic process, but as the beginning of a new one?
That’s a question leaders like Cuong Hoang from Mott Philanthropic and Brad Rourke from Kettering Foundation have been mulling over, and reinventing philanthropic practice around.
Rather than a purely pragmatic exercise, it's one that many leaders argue should be driven by a collective sense of moral purpose. Here’s a sampling of some of the different ways our podcast guests and others are conceptualizing philanthropic purposes:
Justice
Decolonization & Healing
Civil Society & Deep Democracy
Just transitions
Experimentalism & Learning
How can new purpose grow out of the material of past purpose?
"Like all other forms of wealth in the United States, philanthropic wealth can be directly traced back to industries that relied on economic practices of extraction and exploitation, such as the theft of Indigenous land and genocide of Indigenous people, the kidnapping and enslavement of millions of African people, the systemic undervaluing of “women’s work” and the destruction of natural systems and the web of life. Because philanthropic wealth comes from these historic (and current) practices, philanthropy has a moral obligation to repair these harms and redistribute wealth and power to the communities who have been most harmed by extraction and exploitation. Only then can philanthropy play a proactive role in building a world that works for all of us."
Justice Funders
What if the purpose of philanthropy was to address systemic injustice, perhaps where government demonstrates insufficient political will? Would foundations need to establish a new process for vetting the wealth source of donors, and reframe charity in terms of 'what is due' to disinherited, marginalized populations? Such a purpose might ask philanthropies to confront how the voluntariness of donations is at odds with the concept of 'what is due', how to address structural determinants of systemic injustice, and how to hold themselves accountable to those with little access to power.
"...For Black people, access to resources (which can include opportunity and benefit) [has] been an incredibly uneven experience, stemming from lack of power ... Now the question is how do we get to building those institutions that Black communities need for them to be able to thrive and survive? We’re missing those institutional support structures, which can help us combat and eradicate the disparities that we face, whether that’s housing disparity or precarity, food insecurity, limitations to employment, systemic anti-Black racism, and so much more."
Liban Abokor, Board Chair, Foundation for Black Communities
Liban likens philanthropy to a hammer: it's just a tool. It can be used to deepen or fight inequalities. The Foundation for Black Communities' vision is of a future where Black communities in Canada have the resources, organizations, and influence necessary to shape their own solution making and self determination.
Decolonization & Healing
"Racial equity and racial healing are two sides of the same coin. As you’re doing racial equity work, it is always going to unearth the impact of structural racism on people, because it impacts every single one of us, we’re all in this in the system. And we’re trying to figure it out, and how best to be of service to communities and families and children. And so those relationships are needed to be able to have open and honest conversations with one another."
Vicky Stott, W.K. Kellogg Foundation
What if the purpose of philanthropy was to reckon with the impact of systemic inequality and racism, and to build relationships premised on trust, truth, and restoration? That’s what Denver Community Foundation and Kellogg Foundation have begun to reorient around. And that means leaning into internal work, first -- like acknowledging the sources of philanthropic wealth and prioritizing truth telling over expediency and superficial strategy.
"For me, [decolonization is] almost synonymous with the word healing. And I think of decolonization as acknowledging the truth of what has transpired over time: what is the harm, taking some ownership around it, and really committing to a healing process that is going to, not undo, but repair as best as possible, right? Because we can’t undo 500 years of colonization, but through decolonizing, or taking on a mindset of decolonization, we can try to heal and to support. [It’s] a process that involves everyone: the oppressor, and the group that has been oppressed is in a process of restorative justice. So there’s work for White people to do, or descendants of settlers, as well as work for Indigenous people and descendants of Black folks and other People of Colour, to take some action around acknowledging our collective trauma as a result of history, and the collective healing that has to be done as well."
Edgar Villanueva, Decolonizing Wealth Project
Civil Society & Deep Democracy
"For us, civic philanthropy means all of the different types of funders that are focused on and concerned about the state of civic life in America, which is an intentionally broad frame. For us, we think about civic life very broadly, to include the health of our political systems, structures, and institutions, and also our social cohesion, our social fabric, how we’re showing up for neighbours in our communities, and the sentiment of trust that underlies all of that, and a belief in the power of agency, and that that actually matters for people to participate in that. And then when we think about philanthropies’ role in that. What are the ways that funders of all types... can contribute to not only funding and supporting the system, the structures that make that possible, but also investing in those kind of individual mobilization strategies or the pathways for people to become involved?"
Kristin Cambell, PACE Funders
What if the purpose of philanthropy was to enable communities to exercise greater agency and control? That’s what excited podcast guests like Cuong Hoang, Nina Simon, Brad Rourke, Mvu Ngcoya, and Kristin Cambell. Participation isn’t just the counterbalance to wealth and power -- a means to a healthy democracy -- but also an end to itself. Actively participating in and shaping the world around you -- in other words, exercising individual and collective agency -- that is at the heart of what it means to be human.
"Charles Kettering [was] an inventor. ...[Kettering Foundation] was an engineering-heavy kind of enterprise founded in 1927. And for the majority of the 20th century... we had laboratories and we were trying to improve life in the world, and, you know, studying how to grow wheat better, and all sorts of inventions. And... around the late 70s... we came to understand that... a fundamental problem behind all of these other problems is not technical in nature, but is, in fact, political in nature: we can grow enough food; we don’t have the will to get it to the places where we need it to go. And so the Foundation... made a real strong pivot to looking at how it is that political systems can function better for the people that are their ultimate beneficiaries... We sort of learned our way to our approach, which is this notion of people at the center of making decisions, and acting on the problems that they share by dint of living together in community. That’s the fundamental essence of democracy. And that’s what we study: how that can work better."
Brad Rourke, Kettering Foundation
Just Transitions
Just Transition
is a vision-led, unifying and place-based set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.
What if the purpose of philanthropy was to enable communities to make the transition from extractive to regenerative economies, addressing spiritual, social, cultural, economic, and environmental facets of that process?
"When we began to think about climate change less as the one big thing that needed to be addressed, to a symptom of a deeper crisis in society, we moved towards just transition... In an organization that has multiple priorities, only one of which is climate change, and you’re a climate funder, well, the logical thing seems to be to give you a restricted grant, because we should just fund your climate work; we’re not going to fund your fighting-for-minimum-wage work. [But] when you have a framework that brings those two things in relationship to each other, it’s much easier for you as a funder to say, ‘oh, we should just give you general operating grants, because all of these are interconnected fights."
"I don’t want the philanthropic community to pursue justice...The job of Canadian philanthropy is to fill the gaps that governments cannot fill. Whether that is investing in innovation, investing in risk taking, or supporting new ideas that can help advance our social, political, and economic well-being."
Yonis Hassan, CEO of Justice Fund
What if the purpose of philanthropy was to take risks, and invest in ideas, models, and policies with and for communities poorly served by government? That’s the purpose podcast guest Sheila Block and Yonis Hassan advocate for. Given philanthropy relies on forgone tax dollars, they argue that philanthropy has an obligation to kickstart essential work that government has overlooks, is ill-equipped to take on, or deems too risky.
"Ultimately, I think philanthropy has a role to play and has historically played a role as a place to try out things, that place for innovation to fund and support work that the government may not fund, that when proven effective the government may adopt and take to scale."
When do you feel the greatest sense of moral solidarity in relation to philanthropic work?
Reactions & Impressions
How do you respond to the possibility that some current stakeholders in your philanthropic community might leave if it adopted a position of greater moral clarity?
Questions & Hunches to test
How could you learn more about what different philanthropic stakeholders are inspired by?
Masha Gessen, “Why Are Some Journalists Afraid of ‘Moral Clarity’?,” The New Yorker, June 24, 2020, https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/why-are-some-journalists-afraid-of-moral-clarity.
Learn from the influential founder of Visa about why every organization needs a moral purpose, and how that purpose unifies, galvanizes, and enlivens any collective endeavour.
Study what makes for a purpose statement you can be guided and inspired by: compare the statements of purpose from several Canadian Community Foundations and grow your own sense of discernment about what makes purpose more or less powerful.
Justice
