On July 10-12, Impact Entrepreneur and Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (RPA) are co-hosting a two-day thought leadership convening entitled Philanthropy Transforming Finance: Building an Impact Economy. This is part of a larger initiative that RPA is leading with a group of funders called Scaling Solutions toward Shifting Systems, which identified the need for funders to work in more collaborative ways to place longer-term, adaptive resources to fund and accelerate scalable solutions that target systemic changes focused on pressing global issues.[1]
Many organizations today are helping to solve seemingly intractable problems, and demonstrating the possibility of moving beyond incremental change to real transformation. But their success rests in their ability to shift the complex systems in which those problems exist—and that is influenced partly by how they are funded. Such ambition requires funders to operate and support grantees differently. In our first year of research in Scaling Solutions, we created a set of recommendations and agenda for change for funders around collaborating more and more effectively; streamlining grantmaking processes and shifting power dynamics with grantees and investees; providing more strategic non-monetary support; and developing deeper knowledge on shifting systems, and when and how to support grantees in that effort.
For Impact Entrepreneur, which includes 18,500 members in 150+ countries and whose mission is to create and support a global movement of impact entrepreneurs who are building an impact economy populated by triple bottom line businesses fueled by impact investments, this event furthers its aim to enhance a global network of “systems-minded" entrepreneurs, investors, scholars and students of social and environmental innovation, and to further establish the Impact Entrepreneur Center as a year-round gathering place for thought leaders in impact.
This event is part of the second year of the Scaling Solutions initiative in which we are deepening the emphasis on the role of return-seeking capital in scaling solutions to shift systems. To date, the contributions that financial capital is making to anything more than incremental change is limited. Viewed and deployed using a wider, systemic perspective, with a more ambitious and courageous agenda, and with an emphasis on transformation, the sector’s resources can meaningfully contribute to building an impact economy.
At this convening in the Berkshires, we’ll bring together a group of more than 40 individuals who are leaders across the themes of systems thinking, philanthropy, impact investing and ‘new economy’ models. We will explore the challenges, and potential collaborative actions we can take, to encourage and expand investment into creating an economy and financial system that serves society – not the other way around. Recognizing that there are many processes and events taking place related to social finance and impact investing, we have selected an unusual mix of participants who we believe can map, analyze and make recommendations for a roadmap to an impact economy that delivers on critical agendas, not least social justice movements, the Sustainable Development Goals, and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
[1] The Scaling Solutions Steering Group includes the Skoll, Ford, and Draper Richards Kaplan Foundations, Porticus, and Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.