Future Philanthropy?

Philanthropy can be broadly defined as love for humankind. It is derived from the Greek words "philos," which means loving and "anthropos," which means humankind. Philanthropy has historic roots from thousand year ago and evolved along with the change of times, up to present date. The ancient philanthropy things as such helps and kindness for other have been developed toward more complex purposes and strategies in order to eliminate the roots of social problems.

To date, more and more of philanthropy acts using and relying on the information technology and social media; not only for information spreading purpose, but up to resource consolidation and management of work that unthinkable before. It raises the question, how philanthropy look like in the future?

This writing trying to answer that question. Adapted from Bettina Warburg speech, a Public Engagement Lead Institute for the Future, who presented their research result of future philanthropy and concluded those into 5 future forces as follow:

1. Crowd-power

We might be familiar with crowd fundings platform famous recently as kickstarter or indigogo. But crowd power is fundamentally go beyond it, as it is a platform to collect and aggregate the all kind of resources—from money to brainpower to surplus goods—for creating value.

For example, a Rolling Jubilee initiative to intervene by buying debt, keeping it out of the hands of collectors, and then abolishing it. They also launched initiatives like the Debt Resistors’ Operations Manual offer advice to all kinds of debtors about how to escape debt and how to join a growing collective resistance to the debt system. Their movement which famously by slogan "A bailout of the people by the people" now move beyond individual tactics toward debt resistance movement.

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2. Algorithmic coordination

The terms derived from computer science of way to collecting huge data. However, the application of it into philanthropy is really means beyond big data things, but more on capabilities to interpreting the data in the new ways, and coordinating efforts to get the right thing for the right people at the right time. Said, big data and predictive analytics will optimise how people, resource, and task are routed and utilised for maximum impact.

One of example is the Matternet, a startup from Silicon Valley which has been testing an autonomous drone network over Switzerland, shuttling blood and other medical samples between hospitals and testing facilities. Instead of operating from large centralised drone airports, every hospital can install its own base to keep drones running, without onsite technicians to recharge or reload them, as said Matternet CEO Andreas Raptopoulos.

Video courtesy of Youtube.

One of their pilot project is in Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince performed last year, the drones flew medical supplies into a camp housing survivors of the country’s devastating 2010 earthquake. An online video posted by Matternet shows the drone with medical supples flying over the shantytown in the city’s Pétionville section before landing among a slew of houses at a local clinic.

3. Multi-currency

Multi-currency allows you to process and settle transactions in more than one currency. Here, the concept was more bigger than crypto currency or alternative currency tend to use in financial world. It is a way to exchange values in the broader sense rather than a mere money, for example smartphone data credit.

JANA, the largest provider of free internet in emerging markets. Through Jana’s mCent Browser, billion smartphone users are coming online without incurring data charges. mCent Browser is an Android app that gives you free recharge for browsing your favourite websites. Use mCent Browser the same way you would any other browser, only mCent Browser will give you points for browsing daily that you can recharge at your convenience.

Jana CEO Nathan Eagle thinks the Internet should be free as billions people in developing worlds still cannot afford to get online due to have not enough money to get a data plan. Eagle said. “Instead of spending the money on billboards, radio, TV, or even Facebook ads, they're now redirecting their advertising budgets to mCent to be able to start cultivating relationships with these users, and in so doing, they're empowering these users by providing them with free internet.”

4. Ad-hoc-racy

Adhocracy is a flexible, adaptable and informal form of organization that is defined by a lack of formal structure. It operates in an opposite fashion to a bureaucracy. The term was coined by Warren Bennis in his 1968 book The Temporary Society, popularised in 1970 by Alvin Toffler in Future Shock, and has since become often used in the theory of management of organisations (particularly online organisations.

Adhocracy is allowed people to do amazing things without to forming an organisation. It allowed them to jumping and act of roles and have much less formal structure to participation. As shown by Mike Zuckerman, the co-founder of [[Freespace] and considers himself a “Culture Hacker.”

Mike and his friends began the [freespace] in June 2013 when a building was gifted to the community for just $1. [freespace] decide as project with no purpose and no agenda, and see what community does with this space. The radically low barrier to entry and open door policy lead to a hugely diverse range of people from different cultural, economic, and professional backgrounds connecting and creating projects together such as a free bike share, maker classes for people in homeless shelters, and a community garden. The only rule applied here is, you couldn't be an observer, you have to be participated in some way.

To date, [freespace] has hosted over 300 free events, seen more than 30 murals, fostered 4 long-term projects within San Francisco, and instigated an immeasurable amount of inspiration, collaboration, and solidarity within the communities it has touched. [freespace] is now a global movement which developing in 26 locations and 18 different countries around the world. Each of them are different, no the same. Frankly, up to now, they have no leader and have no coordination, they have no formal organisation at any kind. And it doesn't prevent them from achieving awesome stuff in the world, and using the local culture for their benefit.

5. Radical transparency on our future

By this, we mean the shrinking relationship between the donors and beneficiaries that in many ways, because we have so much access to information, new technology, which actually we can have different kind of relationship.

There are several example of movement with aim toward radical transparency:

• BrandKarma: At its core, Brand Karma states that brands have an inherent purpose to do good for their customers, employees and the planet. In order to provide a clear definition for brands to build their own karma, Craig Davis, chief creative officer at Publicis Mojo, launched Brandkarma.com, a site designed to help people distinguish between the good brands and the ones who deserve a lump of coal. Consumer research has repeatedly demonstrated that people expect businesses to operate responsibly and to contribute to positive change in the world. Many people say that if brands fail to operate responsibly, they will stop purchasing the products that the brand provides.
• GiveDirectly: Send money directly to people living in extreme poverty. What make it different with others nonprofit sector is their highest efficiency or more money spent directly to beneficiaries or recipients rather than go for traditional expenses called "overhead". As enclosed in website, about $91 out of $100 reaches the poor or 91% efficiency, thanks to GiveDirectly transparency policy that let donors know more about precisely who exactly is being helped and how. To that end, GiveDirectly has launched GDLive, a website for recipients to share more about themselves, their ambitions, and how that money being spent.
• Etc, etc.

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For full presentation, please see this video:

Video courtesy of Youtube.