Philanthropic foundations have traditionally given relatively little emphasis to foresight, but if they want to support untested or ‘frontier’ areas, they need to adopt new skills and a foresight mindset. The sector urgently needs a stronger focus on becoming ‘future-fit’, i.e. understanding how the trends of the next 10, 20 and even 50 years will impact its focus, operations and legitimacy.
Following the publication of this article on future-fit philanthropy, the Social Innovation Exchange (SIX) and the School of International Futures (SOIF) hosted a roundtable discussion in London to explore how philanthropy can harness strategic foresight to create transformative social change.
Find SIX and SOIF’s reflections from the roundtable here, which highlight some of the key discussion points, and what we think some of the big questions are that face philanthropy that tries to become future-fit. You can also find an exclusive interview with SOIF’s director and founder Cat Tully published on Salzburg Global Newsletter issue 3, available below.
