In this timely interview,Ben Morton Wright andKirsty Lang dive into a high-stakes conversation about the future of philanthropy in a world facing uncertainty.
From the ripple effects of USAID cuts to the Gates Foundation’s $10B commitment, this is a timely look at how donors are reacting – and reimagining- their role. Ben shares powerful examples from across the globe, including the UN Foundation’s roots in private giving, and offers a calm but urgent call to stay strategic, not reactive.
They also explore how wealth transfer to the next generation is changing the game, with younger philanthropists choosing bold, focused causes like deep ocean preservation and women’s prisons.
If you’re in the nonprofit world, a board member, or care about where philanthropy is heading next, this conversation is packed with real takeaways and clear-headed thinking.
Watch the full interview to understand how this moment of disruption might just be a moment of transformation.
Ben Morton-Wright 0:08 I’m Ben Morton Wright, the founder and Group CEO of Global Philanthropic and I’m delighted to be joined today with Kirsty Lang for a conversation about the world that we’re in. I’m sure everyone’s noticed that there’s been a fair amount of trauma in the world in the last few months. And for philanthropy, we’re looking at, how do we respond, what can we learn lessons from our clients, and how can we think ahead of how this is going to develop? So Kirsty, I know you’ve also been very involved in a number of organisations that you chair, so I’m looking forward to this conversation to explore this important topic and fast moving topic. Kirsty.
Kirsty Lang 0:46 Thanks, Ben, yes. Scary world, I come to this conversation with two hats on. I’m a journalist, an arts journalist, who’s covered the sector. I’ve reported on philanthropy. In fact, we first met when I interviewed you on Radio Four about philanthropy in the arts some years ago. But my other hat is that I chair two boards. I chair the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art up in Gateshead in the North East, and I also chair an environmental NGO Global Witness. So I’m not just an observer. I need to understand how to navigate this, this new world order from a philanthropy perspective. You know, how can I, as a board member, I suppose, advise the organisations I work with. So I mean, first of all, you must have been getting loads of panic calls, haven’t you in the past few months from clients of Global Philanthropic?
Ben Morton-Wright 1:44 Yes, we’ve had calls from all around the world. And you know, this isn’t the first shock in terms of sort of seismic changes around the world. So obviously, we had the pandemic, and we’ve had to deal with war across Europe. We’ve had all sorts of other shocks that we’ve had to deal with. But I think the executive orders and the move in outlook for international aid, including USAID, was significant, and it impacted many organisations, particularly UN organisations, very significantly in terms of their budgets. So we did get a lot of calls about how to respond, how to cope and how to think about advising our clients moving forward, because no one quite saw the kind of seismic upending of a lot of this in the philanthropy space. Now it’s settled a bit, so the shock has moved on, and much of it is not as significant as we thought, but it’s still pretty profound, and it has really restructured philanthropy around the world, actually. So that’s the issue that we’d like to maybe discuss today about how do you respond to that?
Kirsty Lang 2:51 Absolutely. I know you’ve advised the UN Foundation for many years. I mean, how are the UN Agencies responding given this huge withdrawal of US support? And of course, I’m thinking about the cut to USA ID, which has impacted on so many NGOs around the world. And of course, the UN agencies.
Ben Morton-Wright 3:15 The interesting thing about the UN Foundation is we remind people that Ted Turner, when he made that gift, as it was reported, and that was some 25/30 years ago, he made it because he was frustrated about the lack of us payments, the UN system, and therefore he decided, I think, on a plane journey, to establish the UN gift of a billion dollars, which at the time was the largest gift. So I often remind people that it’s not that dissimilar in terms of private philanthropists stepping up, but we’ve had this scenario again in terms of international aid, certainly, and engagement across the world. But this is obviously at a different scale, and I think probably the UN organisations that we work with have felt it the most, actually, because many of them are reliant on significant US support. So then their thoughts turn to, how do we mobilise private support, which I think is very important, but you know, all sorts of organisations have also been affected. We’ve had one that had significant income, a third of its income, it’s well over 150 million, suddenly was removed from the pledges and the future grants. So the question is, how do you actually respond to those sorts of shocks in terms of your funding?
Kirsty Lang 4:31 Well, yeah, how do you respond? I mean, now the dust has settled, let’s start with the US. How are people regrouping there?
Ben Morton-Wright 4:41 Well, a few weeks ago, we were presenting to a big US charity. In actual fact, some very senior philanthropists originally set it up some 40 years ago in America, and we did suggest that there might be a bounce, that there could be a response to the current and it’s global phenomenon, it’s not just the US you see it in the UK, you see across the world, the withdrawal of support in terms of overseas aid and development. And we kind of predicted that what might happen is like-minded philanthropists might step up and actually we predicted perhaps there might be even a bounce. So philanthropists will actually talk about and develop the idea that private support could actually play perhaps a role that government support used to play. We see this in the UAE as well. We see this across the Middle East, and I think we’ll probably see more of that in the UK and Europe, where philanthropists are stepping up. Now, we obviously, last week, saw this incredible announcement from the Gates Foundation, and also that the Foundation is going to set up its first office in Southeast Asia, which is going to be in Singapore. So I think, you know, it’s not all bad news. There are some silver linings here.
Kirsty Lang 5:53 Just remind us about that, that Gates announcement.
Ben Morton-Wright 5:58 So Gates were at about 8 billion a year. I believe it will rise to around 10 and a pledge to give it all away, effectively through the Foundation. So it’s rapidly ramping up the amount of work that the Foundation is doing across the world. So I think this is very significant. It was one of the most important Foundations. It still is. We’re lucky enough to have got support from the Gates Foundation in Talking Philanthropy, which is also our forum, which looked a lot of these issues as well, and continues to look at these issues. And so it’s reach globally is quite phenomenal, and it’s reaching health is particularly important. So ramping that work up, and the announcement that he made is very significant, and I think you’ll see others follow, making more commitments, pledging to do even more at a moment when governments around the world are withdrawing.
Kirsty Lang 6:50 So there are these tectonic plates of change around the world. The World Order is massively different than it was a few months ago. I know that Global Philanthropic also operates out in the Far East, in Hong Kong, where you held your conference last autumn Talking Philanthropy, and of course, in the Middle East. How are other parts of the world responding to the withdrawal of the United States?
Ben Morton-Wright 7:21 I think in many ways, it presents opportunities for us to think differently about cooperation and how we might work together in terms of, particularly not only in terms of intergovernment, not only in terms of trade, but also in terms of philanthropy. So I think you see regions of the world beginning to soften their approach, perhaps, and wanting to do more connection with other parts of the world, and actually using this moment, actually of soft power, and often philanthropy is soft power, making statements of friendship and cooperation through philanthropy. And I think that’s what you’re likely to see more of. I mean, America has always been the flagship for philanthropy. It’s the biggest number in terms of GDP. It has been the gold standard, and will continue to be the gold standard. But those are catching up. Other countries are catching up, and we’ve seen, again in the Middle East, a lot more discussion around the role of philanthropy. We’ve seen incredible reports showing the rise of philanthropy across China from CAPS and various other research organisations, and we’ve seen philanthropy rise around the world as wealth arises around the world. So it does present a realignment, I think, of how we might see philanthropy in other parts of the world, not just from the US outward to international organisations. So it is seismic, it is significant. And these changes are not to be underestimated. But I think the upside could be a bounce. The upside could be new collaborations in philanthropic networks, and we may see even a rise in giving in those networks, alongside the US in certain sectors, to compensate for the withdrawal of governments from important aid issues.
Kirsty Lang 9:09 You seem to be saying that in areas of the world where there wasn’t a culture of philanthropy, we are now seeing it growing, and that was before these seismic changes in the United States. So have these changes, if you like, turbo charged that, in your opinion? So, I mean, we were already seeing the growth of philanthropy, let’s say, out of China. But this has speeded it up.
Ben Morton-Wright 9:36 I think it has. And I think the data, it slowed obviously in COVID, and it realigned around health. But the data shows that continuing growing philanthropic engagement, particularly in Asia and across Southeast Asia, as those economies develop, as the wealth created, we see more and more engagement. You have to remember that we looked at this issue with Altrata in terms of wealth generation, and roughly speaking, the top trillion, the top billionaires over 5 million above, are growing between three and just under 12% each year, year on year, the wealth is growing. So we’ve got this still continued growth in wealth and inequality at the same time. So this concept of philanthropy playing a role to look at these inequalities and actually redistributing wealth, as well as doing international work, I think, becomes really important themes in those emerging economies and developing economies. So we’ve seen this in terms of data. So I predict that a lot more will happen now, and it may well accelerate. You know, I think the implications of the US geopolitical situation and policies are seeing itself in trade. They’re seeing itself in global politics being realigned. And I also think you’ll see that in philanthropy. And it may not all be bad news. Maybe it will accelerate philanthropic communities and actually accelerate giving.
Kirsty Lang 10:58 So you’re essentially saying that that pot of philanthropic money is growing. You’ve also talked, we’ve talked in the past about a transfer of wealth to a second generation, to second and third generation, particularly out of Asia. Tell me about that. What are the implications of that next-gen giving?
Ben Morton-Wright 11:28 Well, you’re quite right. Kirsty to pick up on this. And as you know, and it’s all on YouTube, we’ve got six hours of content with next gen talking about how this transfer of wealth should be looked at and their own experiences, including Ted Turner’s eldest granddaughter, Vasser Seydel as well, who’s done some amazing work on oceans, and you remember that discussion with Edwina. So basically, we have this incredible wealth transfer moment. And as I keep saying to many of our clients, you’ve got to remember, the wealth is still there. We’ve not had the 1930s-style crash, where all the wealth has disappeared. In actual fact, it’s building, it’s building. And actually the markets have rebounded now from the initial trade shock that we saw. So generally speaking, wealth continues to rise. And that transfer, is the other thing that’s a fact, because people are not going to live forever. Generations will have to have those discussions. And if you look at the Altrata research that we did, and we did some joint papers on this in terms of environment, but the research that they published last year talked about 1.2 million having a worth 5 million or more, passing on 31 trillion US dollars by 2033. Other numbers that UBS and other banks have looked at are even bigger. So that wealth transfer, this moment, is going to happen. We, as a consulting firm and involved in philanthropy, talk about, well, what percentage could actually arrive during that transfer into philanthropic causes, and if it’s just 1%, it’s huge. If it’s two or 3% it’s it could transform philanthropy. So many of the discussions in families now are very important about how some of that wealth transfer is redirected to causes. Likewise, causes need to engage with that next gen, and we had a London event just recently with next gen, some in their early 20s, talking about how they engage and what they do.
Kirsty Lang 13:25 And what do these next-gen philanthropists want to put their money in, and how they differ from their parents? What sort of causes are they interested in?
Ben Morton-Wright 13:36 That’s a very good question. Kirsty and we’ve uncovered a lot of really interesting material and case studies. So there are a couple of things. So first of all, they are wedded to big causes. So if we take Vasser, for example, she’s done incredible work, but it’s around Deep Oceans. That’s what really excites her. Her philanthropic journey is around that subject.
Ben Morton-Wright 14:04 Absolutely, yeah, and how to protect deep-sea oceans. Oxygen is the charity that she has developed, and that’s the focus of her activities. So it’s very focused. It’s around the environment, which, again, is not uncommon. With Lady Edwina, who’s the chair of our advisory board, and again, she spoke about this again at our recent event, her focus is around women and prisons, having developed Hope Street, which is an alternative route for women’s prisons. Again, this is because she’s a criminologist. It’s something that she’s passionate about. So her philanthropy and her work has been around this subject. So what we see is a different kind of generation coming up, that really wants to look at specific issues. And how do they deploy their philanthropy to solve those issues? So it’s in the old style of sort of development, you would just go along and say, well, put some in, put some money in, and it would come to your theme, or your cause. What we’re saying is, if you want to engage with this next generation, you have to understand that that generation has already worked that out, so they’ve already worked out the cause. So hopefully you’re on their radar, and hopefully you can help in terms of their giving. So that’s the first profound shift, I think, is realising that this generation is very smart. It’s very focused, and it looks at causes, often environmental causes. So you have to link in with that, rather than kind of force them into your subject area. So that’s one big area.
The other big area that we’ve talked a lot about is just the digital revolution. So you know, it states the obvious in all our communications. If you’re doing it through telephones, you’re not going to talk to the next gen. If you’re doing it through direct mail, forget about it. It’s never going to get opened. Yet, there’s this incredible opportunity to use digital to really connect with that next gen and also identify prospects as well.
Kirsty Lang 15:53 Do you connect with them on Instagram or, I mean, like, how do you do it?
Ben Morton-Wright 15:57 Well, it starts with storytelling. So we work a lot with, how do you tell stories around how do you tell the philanthropic story? It involves, for example, we’re pioneering using digital, interactive interviewing techniques so that people can do it in their own time, and they can then interact with the questions rather than doing it in person. So, how you present the story, how you follow up, how you actually engage can be quite different. And there’s also this whole area, and I know you’ve had good experience of this of, could we get the next gen involved in our advisory board? And I mean, I know you’ve, you were telling me about your own experience, would maybe worth sharing in terms of your experience, of how effective advisory boards can be. And that’s another tool.
Kirsty Lang 16:42 You know one NGO that I was involved in, we asked the son of a major, a very well-known philanthropist, to join our advisory board, and he has proved, many years later, to be highly supportive financially. So that was a very good move because I think if you get people involved on your advisory boards, they feel that they have a stake in the decision-making. They feel that they have a stake in how that NGO is run. I mean, that it was not problematic in the case that I’m talking about. I realise that it can be problematic if they, if they cross over that line and start trying to direct a little bit too much, or get involved too much in executive decisions. But the fact is, it is a very it. I think it’s an effective way, very often, of getting the next gen on board, absolutely. It seems to me, Ben, that you’re basically saying, in all of this, you know, don’t panic, because a lot of us are involved in that, in the third sector are very worried about the future. You’re saying, don’t panic. This pot is growing, and actually, this crisis could possibly be an opportunity.
Ben Morton-Wright 18:09 Absolutely, Kirsty, and I think that’s one of the most important things for anyone watching this is for the takeaway is that it is stressful, but don’t panic. Particularly on strategy. You know, the North Star of your strategy, you should you should definitely review it, because things have changed. And involve your board. Involve your advisory board, but the worst thing we see is when organisations suddenly sort of race to the bottom so they cut costs. They think they can’t do things differently. They don’t look at the new external environment, they don’t look at the opportunities. That’s a race to the bottom, and it’s almost the worst thing you can do. So yes, this has profound implications in how you think about, how you fund the future, how you present your case, look at the wider picture, review, but do it in a timed way.
I think the other thing is that things come at such a pace. At the moment, the worst thing as well you can do is react every day to that day’s news, because then your strategy just gets lost. It becomes reactive strategy. So being calm, reflective, taking in, taking stock of your situation, being realistic about how things have changed. Then use your advisory board. Use your board. Think about the wider context. Think about the opportunities, reset your strategies, your long-term strategies, and then try and stick to those rather than being knocked off course through the sort of various shocks that come at you. So I think that’s, that’s very important advice for organisational leadership and keeping the faith for those at the coal face, just to remind yourself that wealth has grown, that maybe the structural changes could be played out to an advantage, but you have to do things different. You have to think about next gen. You have to think about wealth transfer. You have to think about even maybe larger gifts. You have to think about advisory boards and how you engage people. Think creatively and think differently and think digital, because that’s the space that the next gen are in, and we can’t deny that. So how do we penetrate that next gen? Get them involved with our organisations and involve them in a slightly different way?
Kirsty Lang 20:12 Oh, great advice. Thank you. Ben.
Ben Morton-Wright 20:15 There’s a lot to take in. Thanks. Kirsty, great to catch up with you again.
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I’m Ben Morton Wright, the founder and Group CEO of Global Philanthropic and I’m delighted to be joined today with Kirsty Lang for a conversation about the world that we’re in. I’m sure everyone’s noticed that there’s been a fair amount of trauma in the world in the last few months. And for philanthropy, we’re looking at, how do we respond, what can we learn lessons from our clients, and how can we think ahead of how this is going to develop? So Kirsty, I know you’ve also been very involved in a number of organisations that you chair, so I’m looking forward to this conversation to explore this important topic and fast moving topic. Kirsty.
Thanks, Ben, yes. Scary world, I come to this conversation with two hats on. I’m a journalist, an arts journalist, who’s covered the sector. I’ve reported on philanthropy. In fact, we first met when I interviewed you on Radio Four about philanthropy in the arts some years ago. But my other hat is that I chair two boards. I chair the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art up in Gateshead in the North East, and I also chair an environmental NGO Global Witness. So I’m not just an observer. I need to understand how to navigate this, this new world order from a philanthropy perspective. You know, how can I, as a board member, I suppose, advise the organisations I work with. So I mean, first of all, you must have been getting loads of panic calls, haven’t you in the past few months from clients of Global Philanthropic?
Yes, we’ve had calls from all around the world. And you know, this isn’t the first shock in terms of sort of seismic changes around the world. So obviously, we had the pandemic, and we’ve had to deal with war across Europe. We’ve had all sorts of other shocks that we’ve had to deal with. But I think the executive orders and the move in outlook for international aid, including USAID, was significant, and it impacted many organisations, particularly UN organisations, very significantly in terms of their budgets. So we did get a lot of calls about how to respond, how to cope and how to think about advising our clients moving forward, because no one quite saw the kind of seismic upending of a lot of this in the philanthropy space. Now it’s settled a bit, so the shock has moved on, and much of it is not as significant as we thought, but it’s still pretty profound, and it has really restructured philanthropy around the world, actually. So that’s the issue that we’d like to maybe discuss today about how do you respond to that?
Absolutely. I know you’ve advised the UN Foundation for many years. I mean, how are the UN Agencies responding given this huge withdrawal of US support? And of course, I’m thinking about the cut to USA ID, which has impacted on so many NGOs around the world. And of course, the UN agencies.
The interesting thing about the UN Foundation is we remind people that Ted Turner, when he made that gift, as it was reported, and that was some 25/30 years ago, he made it because he was frustrated about the lack of us payments, the UN system, and therefore he decided, I think, on a plane journey, to establish the UN gift of a billion dollars, which at the time was the largest gift. So I often remind people that it’s not that dissimilar in terms of private philanthropists stepping up, but we’ve had this scenario again in terms of international aid, certainly, and engagement across the world. But this is obviously at a different scale, and I think probably the UN organisations that we work with have felt it the most, actually, because many of them are reliant on significant US support. So then their thoughts turn to, how do we mobilise private support, which I think is very important, but you know, all sorts of organisations have also been affected. We’ve had one that had significant income, a third of its income, it’s well over 150 million, suddenly was removed from the pledges and the future grants. So the question is, how do you actually respond to those sorts of shocks in terms of your funding?
Well, yeah, how do you respond? I mean, now the dust has settled, let’s start with the US. How are people regrouping there?
Well, a few weeks ago, we were presenting to a big US charity. In actual fact, some very senior philanthropists originally set it up some 40 years ago in America, and we did suggest that there might be a bounce, that there could be a response to the current and it’s global phenomenon, it’s not just the US you see it in the UK, you see across the world, the withdrawal of support in terms of overseas aid and development. And we kind of predicted that what might happen is like-minded philanthropists might step up and actually we predicted perhaps there might be even a bounce. So philanthropists will actually talk about and develop the idea that private support could actually play perhaps a role that government support used to play. We see this in the UAE as well. We see this across the Middle East, and I think we’ll probably see more of that in the UK and Europe, where philanthropists are stepping up. Now, we obviously, last week, saw this incredible announcement from the Gates Foundation, and also that the Foundation is going to set up its first office in Southeast Asia, which is going to be in Singapore. So I think, you know, it’s not all bad news. There are some silver linings here.
Just remind us about that, that Gates announcement.
So Gates were at about 8 billion a year. I believe it will rise to around 10 and a pledge to give it all away, effectively through the Foundation. So it’s rapidly ramping up the amount of work that the Foundation is doing across the world. So I think this is very significant. It was one of the most important Foundations. It still is. We’re lucky enough to have got support from the Gates Foundation in Talking Philanthropy, which is also our forum, which looked a lot of these issues as well, and continues to look at these issues. And so it’s reach globally is quite phenomenal, and it’s reaching health is particularly important. So ramping that work up, and the announcement that he made is very significant, and I think you’ll see others follow, making more commitments, pledging to do even more at a moment when governments around the world are withdrawing.
So there are these tectonic plates of change around the world. The World Order is massively different than it was a few months ago. I know that Global Philanthropic also operates out in the Far East, in Hong Kong, where you held your conference last autumn Talking Philanthropy, and of course, in the Middle East. How are other parts of the world responding to the withdrawal of the United States?
I think in many ways, it presents opportunities for us to think differently about cooperation and how we might work together in terms of, particularly not only in terms of intergovernment, not only in terms of trade, but also in terms of philanthropy. So I think you see regions of the world beginning to soften their approach, perhaps, and wanting to do more connection with other parts of the world, and actually using this moment, actually of soft power, and often philanthropy is soft power, making statements of friendship and cooperation through philanthropy. And I think that’s what you’re likely to see more of. I mean, America has always been the flagship for philanthropy. It’s the biggest number in terms of GDP. It has been the gold standard, and will continue to be the gold standard. But those are catching up. Other countries are catching up, and we’ve seen, again in the Middle East, a lot more discussion around the role of philanthropy. We’ve seen incredible reports showing the rise of philanthropy across China from CAPS and various other research organisations, and we’ve seen philanthropy rise around the world as wealth arises around the world. So it does present a realignment, I think, of how we might see philanthropy in other parts of the world, not just from the US outward to international organisations. So it is seismic, it is significant. And these changes are not to be underestimated. But I think the upside could be a bounce. The upside could be new collaborations in philanthropic networks, and we may see even a rise in giving in those networks, alongside the US in certain sectors, to compensate for the withdrawal of governments from important aid issues.
You seem to be saying that in areas of the world where there wasn’t a culture of philanthropy, we are now seeing it growing, and that was before these seismic changes in the United States. So have these changes, if you like, turbo charged that, in your opinion? So, I mean, we were already seeing the growth of philanthropy, let’s say, out of China. But this has speeded it up.
I think it has. And I think the data, it slowed obviously in COVID, and it realigned around health. But the data shows that continuing growing philanthropic engagement, particularly in Asia and across Southeast Asia, as those economies develop, as the wealth created, we see more and more engagement. You have to remember that we looked at this issue with Altrata in terms of wealth generation, and roughly speaking, the top trillion, the top billionaires over 5 million above, are growing between three and just under 12% each year, year on year, the wealth is growing. So we’ve got this still continued growth in wealth and inequality at the same time. So this concept of philanthropy playing a role to look at these inequalities and actually redistributing wealth, as well as doing international work, I think, becomes really important themes in those emerging economies and developing economies. So we’ve seen this in terms of data. So I predict that a lot more will happen now, and it may well accelerate. You know, I think the implications of the US geopolitical situation and policies are seeing itself in trade. They’re seeing itself in global politics being realigned. And I also think you’ll see that in philanthropy. And it may not all be bad news. Maybe it will accelerate philanthropic communities and actually accelerate giving.
So you’re essentially saying that that pot of philanthropic money is growing. You’ve also talked, we’ve talked in the past about a transfer of wealth to a second generation, to second and third generation, particularly out of Asia. Tell me about that. What are the implications of that next-gen giving?
Well, you’re quite right. Kirsty to pick up on this. And as you know, and it’s all on YouTube, we’ve got six hours of content with next gen talking about how this transfer of wealth should be looked at and their own experiences, including Ted Turner’s eldest granddaughter, Vasser Seydel as well, who’s done some amazing work on oceans, and you remember that discussion with Edwina. So basically, we have this incredible wealth transfer moment. And as I keep saying to many of our clients, you’ve got to remember, the wealth is still there. We’ve not had the 1930s-style crash, where all the wealth has disappeared. In actual fact, it’s building, it’s building. And actually the markets have rebounded now from the initial trade shock that we saw. So generally speaking, wealth continues to rise. And that transfer, is the other thing that’s a fact, because people are not going to live forever. Generations will have to have those discussions. And if you look at the Altrata research that we did, and we did some joint papers on this in terms of environment, but the research that they published last year talked about 1.2 million having a worth 5 million or more, passing on 31 trillion US dollars by 2033. Other numbers that UBS and other banks have looked at are even bigger. So that wealth transfer, this moment, is going to happen. We, as a consulting firm and involved in philanthropy, talk about, well, what percentage could actually arrive during that transfer into philanthropic causes, and if it’s just 1%, it’s huge. If it’s two or 3% it’s it could transform philanthropy. So many of the discussions in families now are very important about how some of that wealth transfer is redirected to causes. Likewise, causes need to engage with that next gen, and we had a London event just recently with next gen, some in their early 20s, talking about how they engage and what they do.
And what do these next-gen philanthropists want to put their money in, and how they differ from their parents? What sort of causes are they interested in?
That’s a very good question. Kirsty and we’ve uncovered a lot of really interesting material and case studies. So there are a couple of things. So first of all, they are wedded to big causes. So if we take Vasser, for example, she’s done incredible work, but it’s around Deep Oceans. That’s what really excites her. Her philanthropic journey is around that subject.
Yes, it’s deep-sea mining, she’s particularly worried about.
Absolutely, yeah, and how to protect deep-sea oceans. Oxygen is the charity that she has developed, and that’s the focus of her activities. So it’s very focused. It’s around the environment, which, again, is not uncommon. With Lady Edwina, who’s the chair of our advisory board, and again, she spoke about this again at our recent event, her focus is around women and prisons, having developed Hope Street, which is an alternative route for women’s prisons. Again, this is because she’s a criminologist. It’s something that she’s passionate about. So her philanthropy and her work has been around this subject. So what we see is a different kind of generation coming up, that really wants to look at specific issues. And how do they deploy their philanthropy to solve those issues? So it’s in the old style of sort of development, you would just go along and say, well, put some in, put some money in, and it would come to your theme, or your cause. What we’re saying is, if you want to engage with this next generation, you have to understand that that generation has already worked that out, so they’ve already worked out the cause. So hopefully you’re on their radar, and hopefully you can help in terms of their giving. So that’s the first profound shift, I think, is realising that this generation is very smart. It’s very focused, and it looks at causes, often environmental causes. So you have to link in with that, rather than kind of force them into your subject area. So that’s one big area.
Do you connect with them on Instagram or, I mean, like, how do you do it?
Well, it starts with storytelling. So we work a lot with, how do you tell stories around how do you tell the philanthropic story? It involves, for example, we’re pioneering using digital, interactive interviewing techniques so that people can do it in their own time, and they can then interact with the questions rather than doing it in person. So, how you present the story, how you follow up, how you actually engage can be quite different. And there’s also this whole area, and I know you’ve had good experience of this of, could we get the next gen involved in our advisory board? And I mean, I know you’ve, you were telling me about your own experience, would maybe worth sharing in terms of your experience, of how effective advisory boards can be. And that’s another tool.
You know one NGO that I was involved in, we asked the son of a major, a very well-known philanthropist, to join our advisory board, and he has proved, many years later, to be highly supportive financially. So that was a very good move because I think if you get people involved on your advisory boards, they feel that they have a stake in the decision-making. They feel that they have a stake in how that NGO is run. I mean, that it was not problematic in the case that I’m talking about. I realise that it can be problematic if they, if they cross over that line and start trying to direct a little bit too much, or get involved too much in executive decisions. But the fact is, it is a very it. I think it’s an effective way, very often, of getting the next gen on board, absolutely. It seems to me, Ben, that you’re basically saying, in all of this, you know, don’t panic, because a lot of us are involved in that, in the third sector are very worried about the future. You’re saying, don’t panic. This pot is growing, and actually, this crisis could possibly be an opportunity.
Absolutely, Kirsty, and I think that’s one of the most important things for anyone watching this is for the takeaway is that it is stressful, but don’t panic. Particularly on strategy. You know, the North Star of your strategy, you should you should definitely review it, because things have changed. And involve your board. Involve your advisory board, but the worst thing we see is when organisations suddenly sort of race to the bottom so they cut costs. They think they can’t do things differently. They don’t look at the new external environment, they don’t look at the opportunities. That’s a race to the bottom, and it’s almost the worst thing you can do. So yes, this has profound implications in how you think about, how you fund the future, how you present your case, look at the wider picture, review, but do it in a timed way.
Oh, great advice. Thank you. Ben.
There’s a lot to take in. Thanks. Kirsty, great to catch up with you again.