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Philanthropic Issue Funds: 5 Ways to Get Started

Giving Compass
This article is deemed a must-read by one or more of our expert collaborators.
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Philanthropic Issue Funds Giving Compass
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Are Philanthropic Issue Funds Right For You?

Wouldn’t you like to maximize the power of your giving? Now you can. Even an ambitious donor can be forgiven for looking at the world’s most intractable problems, like poverty, climate change, or global conservation with confusion and trepidation. These issues are extraordinarily complex, hard to understand, and are being tackled on all sides (to varying degrees of success) by a complicated knot of agencies, charities, foundations, and other nonprofits. Which approaches are most promising? Which organizations are the most competent? Where would a dollar today do the most good?


Impact Philanthropy is a complex topic, and others found these selections from the Impact Giving archive from Giving Compass to be good resources.

  • This article is deemed a must-read by one or more of our expert collaborators.
    Click here for more.
    Interconnected Social and Environmental Problems and Solutions

    Giving Compass' Take: • Sono Aibe and Matthew A. Brown explore how a family-planning group and an environmental organization banded together in Tanzania to foster the health of forests, fisheries, and families. • This partnership between Pathfinder International and The Nature Conservancy can be a model for other conservation efforts. How can we make sure we're saving the planet, while also serving the needs of local communities? • Read about six more lessons on how to be a conservationist. In 2010, our organizations — the reproductive health and family planning nonprofit Pathfinder International and the environmental organization The Nature Conservancy — decided that by working together, we could accelerate each other’s goals and achieve greater things. Two years later, we launched a project called Tuungane (Kiswahili for “Let’s unite”), with a collaboration commitment of at least 10 years. The project’s focus is a 4.8-million-acre forested landscape in western Tanzania — an area that rises steeply from the shores of Lake Tang­anyika within the Greater Mahale ecosystem and that is home to more than 90 percent of Tanzania’s endangered chimpan­zees. Mahale National Park encompasses about 400,000 acres of this ecosystem, yet 70 percent of the chimpanzee population lives outside of the park’s boundaries. The project works with Tanzania National Parks and other government bodies on forest management, agriculture, and fisheries, as well as primary health care, livelihoods, and governance for local families. It is a version of population, health, and environment programming (PHE) that integrates action in all three areas into one combined approach. The Nature Conservancy believed the partnership would help it get further faster, simply because local people say reproductive health is one of their primary needs. Conservation priorities become more relevant when a fisheries officer can also talk to his fisherman groups about the availability of fish stocks to meet the needs of growing families and the health benefits of spacing their children. Similarly, Pathfinder understood that many people rely on their environments for either sustenance or livelihood as a matter of survival, and that managing natural resources for the future is critical to their long-term health and well-being. Read the full article about interconnected social and environmental problems by Sono Aibe and Matthew A. Brown at Stanford Social Innovation Review.


We are determined to create a structure for all donors – giving $10, $10 million, and everything in between – to take advantage of the same expertise already trusted by the world’s leading philanthropists and foundations.

It’s no wonder the world’s wealthiest and most influential philanthropists – billionaires like Bill Gates and Michael Bloomberg – hire large staffs of advisors to decide how to most impactfully give their money towards social causes. These leaders realize that if they want to be as good philanthropists as they are entrepreneurs, they can’t just rely on their intuition. Every dollar counts, which means every dollar needs to be spent as impactfully as possible. That requires (usually expensive) expert help.

But why should only billionaires be able to do their philanthropy with such proficiency? At Bright Funds Foundation, we are determined to create a structure for all donors – giving $10, $10 million, and everything in between – to take advantage of the same expertise already trusted by the world’s leading philanthropists and foundations. You, too, can give with the confidence of a billionaire, without all the work.

About Philanthropic Issue Funds

Like an investment fund, Philanthropic Issue Funds are managed by expert Fund Managers who construct a portfolio of philanthropic investments in nonprofits all aimed at solving a particular social or environmental issue. Issue Fund Managers make their decisions based on the best available evidence of which bets will have the most likely impact per dollar spent on the problem to which the Fund is dedicated to solving – like climate change or poverty in New York City.

The result is an easy way for donors to learn about and fund a collection of vetted organizations, projects, and social impact initiatives that offer a holistic and diversified approach to making a real, positive difference in the world.

Beyond that, Issue Funds help forge a relationship between donors and the entire issue, rather than any particular organization. In this sense, Fund Managers and donors can be thought of as fellow travelers on a journey together – a partnership in which Fund Managers help donors not only understand a problem but also the most promising strategies best positioned to solve it. Of course, this involves getting to know the work of nonprofits on the ground as well, but it helps to have a trusted guide put everything in context.

Vetted Philanthropic Issue Funds

Bright Funds Foundation is partnering with Giving Compass to launch a suite of five inaugural Philanthropic Issue Funds managed by the world’s leading issue experts. We are excited to share these offerings with you here in our shared quest to make the most of donors’ generosity. We all care about giving with impact and hope you consider these funds as high-impact giving opportunities.

  • Conservation Fund: The goal of this Fund is to reduce the degradation of the world’s natural land and ocean ecosystems and improve biodiversity with a focus on wildlife
  • Bay Area Poverty Fund: The goal of this Fund is to alleviate and prevent poverty in San Francisco and provide a pathway to self-sufficiency
  • New York Poverty Fund: The goal of this Fund is to alleviate and eliminate poverty in New York City
  • US Education Fund: The goal of this Fund is to create pathways for all children to thrive as productive and civically literate adults
  • Climate Fund: The goal of this Fund is to mitigate global climate change
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Looking for a way to get involved?

Learning with others and benchmarking are key steps towards becoming an impact giver. If you are interested in giving with impact for Climate, take a look at these events, galas, conferences and volunteering opportunities to connect with individuals like you.

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Climate is an important topic. Other members found these Giving Funds, Charitable Organizations and Projects aggregated by Giving Compass to be relevant to individuals with a passion for Climate.

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