Accelerating our Impact: Philanthropy, Innovation and Social Change

“The possible’s slow fuse is lit
by the Imagination”
Emily Dickinson
In today’s complex world we face both peril and possibility. With grave social and
environmental challenges to our collective future, a growing number of social
innovators and their supporters are taking bold action. They are becoming intentional
about shifting structures, cultures and institutions.
Such practices are not yet wide-spread. For years, many funders have been supporting
diverse social innovations 1 and experimenting with approaches to “scaled-up” grantmaking.
But our efforts have often been too narrow or short-term and the results
uneven. Wisdom and experience now suggest that we need a clear vision, firm commitment,
and persistence to remove the barriers to enduring social change.
The purpose of this paper is to contribute to an emerging body of knowledge and
reflective practice on the role of funders in supporting innovation and social change.
Our goals are to:
• Encourage funders of all sizes to accelerate their impact;
• Provide practical insights and examples of some of the opportunities
and pitfalls of funding for durable social change;
• Refine our own foundation’s performance through feedback
and engagement with our readers and fellow grantmakers.
1 By social innovation we mean both new things that work and existing knowledge applied in new ways to
solve social problems. The examples cited throughout this paper are current or recent Foundation grantees,
partners or initiatives.
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