Charitable grantmakers have been encouraged to share the power they wield as wealthy organisations in a “more disruptive” way.
As part of a panel discussion in London yesterday, leaders of three funders were asked what philanthropists should do differently to boost giving in the UK.
Jason Arthur, chief executive of Lewis Hamilton’s foundation Mission 44, said funders and investors “need to be aware of the level of power that comes with having access to resources and constantly pushing ourselves to be thoughtful about who we are investing in and how we invest”.
Arthur’s charity tries to recognise this by collaborating with young people on how it makes grants and prioritising investments in organisations led by people of colour, he told NPC’s summer reception.
“More broadly, whatever it is, recognising that there’s a huge amount of power that comes with having capital is critical, and we need to be, I think, even more disruptive about how we share that power,” he said.
Breaking down barriers
On the same panel, Gary Lubner, businessman and founder of This Day Foundation, said persuading the government to do more to support philanthropic giving is important.
“How do we get government to give the right breaks, to give the right to encouragement, because then we’re talking about proper impact and impact funds and unleashing billions,” he said.
Meanwhile, Erica Wax, co-founder of the Impact London Collective, told the event it was important to “break down the barriers” between donors and the charities they might support.
Impact London Collective, she said, aims to do this by arranging for its members, who donate money and collectively decide which charities to support, to regularly meet representatives from the organisations to learn more about their work.
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