If you’ve been working in philanthropy for longer than a week, you’ve probably come across a report, analysis, or opinion piece about systems change. It’s everywhere. There are peer groups, conferences, webinars, blogs, and even schools dedicated to systems change. And there are as many definitions, theories, and conceptual frameworks of systems change as there are articles written about it.

But, as the recently released evaluation of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors’ Shifting Systems Initiative (SSI) suggests, it’s an overused and poorly understood concept in philanthropy. The report indicates that the increasing attention to it is both good and bad. More funders are talking about systems change and considering supporting it, which is good. On the other hand, the more voices that join in, the “messier” the field becomes. This messiness has yielded a degree of inaction, frustration, and resentment that has prevented greater uptake from more funders. According to the evaluation, there’s been a lot more “talk than walk.”

As a frequent participant in funder calls and donor working groups, our team at the Roddenberry Foundation has seen this “systems change fatigue” up close and personal. Many funders have either ignored the field completely because of its complexity or indulged so much in the complexity that it has hampered action. It often feels like the time we’ve spent defining, describing, and unpacking what systems change is and how to approach it has gotten in the way of our ability to fund it.

In 2020, our understanding of systems change shifted in a wholly unexpected way. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we launched the +1 Global Fund, a network-based platform that leverages peer nominations to discover small, earlier-stage organizations in the Global South. In short order, we began to notice that—independent of region or issue area—many locally led, often very small initiatives were influencing entrenched systems. This came as a surprise and, with it, came the realization that the field has seemingly overlooked and undervalued the role small organizations play in systems change.

Based on our experience, making funding systems change easier and more accessible to more funders requires that funders redefine how systems change occurs and who leads it.

Read the full article about systems change through small organizations by Lior Ipp at Stanford Social Innovation Review.