Giving Compass' Take:

• The Skoll World Forum is a conference that brought together philanthropists and entrepreneurs to collaborate on social problem-solving. The panel discussions led to a deeper dive on whether or not philanthropy is part of the problem or the solution when creating social change. 

• How are donors addressing power dynamics inherent in philanthropy? What must change within the sector to ensure that philanthropists can be part of the solution to social issues, and not further exacerbate the problems?

• Read about the limitations of modern philanthropy. 

A few days ago, Oxford University hosted the Skoll World Forum, an annual event created by Jeff Skoll, a billionaire who made his fortune running eBay in its early years. The goal of the Forum is to bring people together from around the world to discuss and foster entrepreneurial solutions for our most pressing problems. A lofty goal, indeed…or, perhaps, yet another show of elitist chutzpah?

Kerry Dolan writes for Forbes that 1,200 people from 81 countries attended the conference, ranging from billionaire philanthropists all the way down to handpicked innovative social entrepreneurs.

A forum on whether philanthropy is part of the solution or part of the problem was attended by 250 people, according to Dolan. The means that another 1,000 people were somewhere else and did not hear the conversation on the critical issues people have with philanthropy, which is too bad. One such issue is that there is a power dynamic with older white men running most of the major philanthropies.

According to panelist Edgar Villanueva, philanthropies are out of touch, being “closed-door, top-down, and expert-led.” In other words, they do not reach out to the very communities they are trying to benefit.

Rodney Foxworth of BALLE wondered how philanthropists will address the growing income disparity in the world. He made reference to Boston, where the median household wealth for a Black family is $8 and, for a white family, $247,000. Dolan goes on to ask if philanthropists are willing to wrestle with the fact that capitalism’s power dynamic may not be working for many people.

At another point, the issue of power dynamics was raised yet again about money flowing to large, well-recognized nonprofits while smaller ones that fly under the radar may be doing as much good, if not more.

Read the full article about impact of philanthropy by Rob Meiksins at Nonprofit Quarterly.