In the middle of the 19th century, the likelihood of death during childbirth was extraordinarily high. In Vienna, two maternity wards, one staffed by male doctors and one staffed by female midwives had vastly different mortality rates: the ward staffed by male doctors was five times worse than the other.

That is until Ignaz Semmelweis. After months of trial and error, he discovered a solution that would reduce mortality rates to 1-2%. His radical solution was for the male doctors to wash their hands.

And yet, the simple solution was soundly rejected. Theories abound as to why the doctors refused to adopt the practice even though it clearly worked. What we do know, and what’s now called the Semmelweis Reflex, is the tendency to reject new evidence or new knowledge because it contradicts established norms, beliefs, or paradigms.

Reflecting on the Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP)’s new report, Foundations Respond to Crisis: Lasting Change, the question before everyone in the philanthropic sector is how to persist in this meaningful change. The study points to a deeper understanding of the need for unrestricted funding and racial equity. These changes were precipitated by specific events, namely a global pandemic and instances of race-based violence. In these heightened moments of concern, the response from many foundations has been swift and significant. However, as concerns about the pandemic wane and overt incidents of racial violence subside, there is a great risk of a return to “normal” practices.

Semmelweiss holds some clues to creating this change. While he failed at implementing handwashing in Vienna, some years later, the Crimean War created a new opportunity to revive the practice. A nurse named Florence Nightingale picked up the data and validated handwashing with increasing adoption by doctors. In this case, rather than indicating that doctors were causing the death of their patients, Nightingale reaffirmed the collective problem of patient mortality and framed the practice of handwashing as an opportunity to work together for better outcomes.

It can seem easy to define the problem, cause, and solution in narrow terms. In doing so, our discussions do a disservice to civic responsibility by pitting two actors against one another. Instead, it is important for both nonprofits and foundations to use a critical lens to interrogate established norms, beliefs, or paradigms to work together for the common good — a process at the heart of creating lasting change.

Read the full article about creating lasting change by Cherian Koshy at The Center for Effective Philanthropy.