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In this episode of the Philanthropisms podcast we talk to Róisín Wood, CEO of the Community Foundation Northern Ireland (CFNI), about the landscape for philanthropy and civil society in Northern Ireland. Including:

• How and why was CFNI originally formed, and what is the organisation’s focus today?
• What is the history and current context for civil society in NI?
• What is the overall makeup of the NI civil society sector, in terms of formalised vs informal orgs, large vs small, different cause areas etc.?
• What is the history and current context for giving in NI? E.g. how much HNWI giving is there? How much mass market giving? What role does corporate philanthropy play? What role do foundations play?
• What is the attitude of the NI government towards civil society in general? What is the attitude towards philanthropy?
• Northern Ireland has a well-document history of challenges with political and religious polarisation - what role have civil society organisations and philanthropy played in trying to overcome this?
• At a time of increasing polarisation elsewhere, does the NI experience have things to teach CSOs and funders elsewhere about how to address these issues effectively?
• Are there ongoing challenges with polarisation in NI? Are these continuations of long-standing issues, or are there new fault lines emerging?
• Does working further upstream demand a willingness to blur the boundaries between philanthropy and politics? How much of a barrier is this?
• How can philanthropic funders bring people together across divides to have meaningful conversations, work together and find common cause?
• What is the USP of Community Foundations within the wider ecosystem of philanthropy?
• Can the successes of place-based initiatives inform activities or policymaking at a regional or national level? How can organisations based in one place ensure they ‘influence upwards’?
• Is “place” more complex than it is sometimes presented? I.e. at what geographic level do we feel a sense of belonging or identity?
• Is there potential for cultivating philanthropy from a Northern Irish Diaspora? What might this look like?

Related Links:

• CFNI’s website
• CFNI Strategy 2023-26
• Philanthropisms podcast conversations with Michaela Giurgiu on Eastern European Philanthropy and Community Foundations, Anelise Hanson Shrout on the history of philanthropy and the Great Famine, Farai Chideya on philanthropy’s role in building a multiracial pluralistic democracy, and Natasha Friend & Maria Ahmed on participatory place-based philanthropy.
• WPM article “Why isn’t all philanthropy trust-based philanthropy?”
• Republic of Ireland’s National Philanthropy Policy, launched by govt in 2023

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In this episode we take a look at the recent announcement by Bill Gates that he now plans to give away 99% of his wealth and spend down his foundation over the next 20 years. Including:

• Should we be excited about this news?
• Why has the announcement been made now? Should it be seen in part as a response to the Trump administration?
• Do the sums stack up? Can we square what has been said so far about the total amounts that will be given away with the projected annual spending rates?
• Is the Gates Foundation going to look beyond grantmaking in order to spend out? i.e. by transferring its endowment to other orgs, or by using endowment assets to make impact investments?
• Is this more evidence that norms around perpetuity in foundation philanthropy are shifting?
• Will it be necessary to shift away from “strategic” philanthropy in order to give money away at the required rate?
• Will Gates’s decision prompt other wealthy people to commit to giving more money more quickly?
• Gates has framed his goals in terms of “solving” a number of major societal problems, but does this set unrealistic expectations of what philanthropy can achieve?
• Is there a risk that the increased pace of Gates' giving could exacerbate concerns about the distorting effect that his philanthropy can have in some of the countries where the foundation operates?
• Why did a norm of perpetuity for foundations become established in the first place?
• What are some of the key criticisms that have been levelled at perpetual endowments?

Relevant links

• AP article featuring comment from Rhodri, “Bill Gates pledges his remaining fortune to the Gates Foundation, which will close in 20 years”
• Michael Kavate’s piece in Inside Philanthropy, “Gates Sets An End Date: 2045. But Do We Really Know How Much He’ll Spend?”
• New York Times interview, “The $200 Billion Gamble: Bill Gates’s Plan to Wind Down His Foundation”
• WPM article series “What’s the Point of Philanthropic Foundations?” Part 1, part 2 and part 3.
• WPM Guide to short-term vs long-term approaches in philanthropy
• Ben Soskis’s paper on “The History of the Giving While Living” ethic
• Philanthropisms podcast episodes on the ‘history of foundations’ and ‘philanthropy, gratitude and recognition’
• Philanthropisms podcast interview with Maribel Morey

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In this episode we talk to Allison Fine (President of Every.org and nonprofit tech expert) about the impact of AI on philanthropy, and how it can be used to make fundraising more relational at scale. Including:

• Is everyday giving in decline? If so, what are the key drivers?
• Are there particular declines among certain demographics or age groups?
• Has this led to an over-reliance on a small group of donors giving larger amounts? What are the practical and ethical issues with this?
• Has fundraising become too transactional? If so, why?
• Has a paradigm of transactional fundraising led many nonprofits to measure the wrong things, and therefore misjudge “success”?
• How do donors feel about transactional fundraising?
• What is the ‘leaky bucket problem’?
• Has an over-reliance on transactional methods of fundraising played any part in damaging or eroding public trust in nonprofits?
• Has a lack of opportunities for genuine connection and participation as a result of nonprofits becoming too transactional led donors to look elsewhere? (E.g. to online social movements, or individual crowdfunding requests?)
• What impact does transactional fundraising have on fundraisers themselves? (Do they actually want to use these methods?)
• What are the key components of a relational approach to fundraising? (E.g. personalisation of approach, tailored reporting etc).
• What have traditionally been seen as the barriers to making this work at scale?
• How can AI tools help?
• How do nonprofit leaders ensure that AI tools are adopted in the right way? (i.e. in ways that add value to human work, or free up human time, rather than just replacing it)?
• What new opportunities and challenges does the growth of online giving via digital platforms bring?
• What is the current market for cryptocurrency donations?

Related Links:

• Every.org
• Every.org's "Relational Fundraising Playbook"
• Allison's pieces for Chronicle of Philanthropy: "How to Treat Every Donor Like They Matter — and Keep Them" and "Relentless Fundraising Is Eroding Trust in Nonprofits. Here’s How to Fix Things".
• Excerpt from The Smart Nonprofit in SSIR (2022)
• WPM guide to philanthropy and AI,
• Philanthropisms podcast episodes with Milos Maricic & Giuseppe Ugazio, Lisa Greer and J. Bob Alotta.
• Philanthropisms podcast deep dives on philanthropy and AI and the platformisation of giving.