Introducing this work - a global picture
Philanthropy is very different around the world, as has been the philanthropic response to the global pandemic. We believe, if carefully facilitated and curated, there is a lot we can learn from people and organisations who are different to us, and working in different contexts.
This is why we included organisations from both the global North and South in this work. This scan draws on stories from organisations who are used to working in crisis or unstable situations (like Brazil, or Serbia or Kenya), or have recently experienced a crisis (like funders in Australia who dealt with devastating bushfires and New Zealand and Haiti who experienced catastrophic earthquakes). There is a lot we can learn beyond the borders of North America and Europe.
This is not another neat, static report
We have attempted to make this work more accessible than a standard report. We know people are busy and making time to read a long report is challenging so we have taken a modular approach, and organised it into small bite size chunks that can be dipped into and out of. We also want to make our insights more accessible to people whose first language is not English, and we will be translating some of the pieces in this work.
We are also sharing different styles of content. It is not all in the voice of SIX, you can read the insights from our global friends in their own words, or listen to the podcast we recorded with CAF. We invite you to dip in and out of each page, or as part of a story (as you would navigate through sections of a report) .
COVID-19 has not ended, and neither has this piece of work
Many of us still feel like we’re still in the eye of the storm. Whilst the news of potential vaccines emerge (as of December 2020), many countries in Asia are entering their 3rd or 4th wave and death in several parts of the world continue to increase. The deep economic crisis is only just beginning and will last many years.
These insights therefore are still emerging and changing. COVID-19 is not over, and neither is this work. This is not a static report owned by us. It is a moment in time, the result of insights over 6 months.
It was not our intention to make this scan a comprehensive analysis. Instead, we wanted to spark discussion on what is making philanthropy most effective across four continents and three time horizons (emergency, recovery and rebuilding). We’ve attempted to shed light on the trade-offs and tensions, dilemmas and nuances, which so often become blockers to progressive change.
We invited over 30 funders from all over the world to take part in a reflective global exchange and we have shared our learning in the following pages. We hope these insights will be useful for funders as they navigate uncertain times. We hope funders will find inspiration in stories from different parts of the world, not just their closest neighbours operating in similar conditions. And we hope those we’ve had the honour to talk to so far will want to be part of SIX’s global conversations in the future.
If you would like to offer some feedback, be introduced to some of your peers, or start a conversation about how you could join the global conversation and community, please email info@socialinnovationexchange.org. We’d love to hear from you!
The work is collectively produced by Josiane Smith, Key Programmes Lead at SIX, and Louise Pulford, CEO SIX with our Senior Advisor for the SIX Funders node, Dame Julia Unwin.