2025 Concordia Annual Summit

Reimagining Impact: Philanthropy, Technology, and the Future of Aid

  • Advancing Human Rights & Social Progress
Kate Warren, Michael J. Nyenhuis, Mark Viso, Angela Williams, Tim Cadogan

Session
Partners

Session Summary

Important
Quotations

"We often hear people say that philanthropy can come in and fill the gap. We know it is not that simple. But there is a role for philanthropy, and we are seeing philanthropies think differently about that role, moving from patron to partner with new models."
Kate Warren
"You would be amazed at how quickly the commercial sector can provide goods into Gaza when people have money to spend. The direct cash transfer puts money in the hands of families and quickly creates a market."
Michael J. Nyenhuis
"We are shifting from a traditional not-for-profit 401(c)(3) NGO to a perpetual purpose trust like Patagonia, where our mission owns the organization and the people we serve have decision rights and power."
Mark Viso
"We are no longer going to show up as saviors. We are going to show up as partners."
Angela Williams
"We had 40,000 people create fundraisers this year for the American Cancer Society. It raised a lot of money, but it also reached 10 million people."
Tim Cadogan

Key
Takeaways

  • Shift from Savior to Partner Mentality: Organizations must move away from traditional “savior” models and show up as partners who listen deeply to local communities and allow them to define solutions to their own problems.
  • Systems Over Symptoms Approach: Effective philanthropy requires focusing on building resilient systems rather than addressing individual symptoms, including healthcare systems, food systems, and market-based systems that can withstand unexpected stressors.
  • Power of Collaborative Networks: No single entity can solve complex global challenges alone. The most effective approaches involve collaboration between multilateral organizations, local NGOs, governments, corporations, and community-led initiatives.
  • Youth Engagement Through Volunteerism: Volunteerism serves as the gateway for younger generations to become engaged philanthropists, often triggering long-term commitment and growing individuals into financial contributors over time.
  • Trust Moves from Institutions to Individuals: Trust has shifted from institutions to individuals, particularly among people under 30, creating opportunities for peer-to-peer fundraising and grassroots mobilization that can reach millions through individual networks.
  • Local Leadership with Global Scale: The most effective solutions combine “wholly local” deep community connections with “global scale reach and learning”, leveraging local expertise while accessing broader resources and knowledge systems.

Action
Items

  • For Philanthropic Organizations: Establish formal collaboration frameworks by creating MOUs and systematic agreements for global and local partnerships. Implement trust-based giving practices that shift decision-making power to communities being served and reduce bureaucratic barriers. Develop youth-centered programs, including volunteer pathways and youth advisory councils.
  • For Addressing Gender Inequality and Child Labor: Leverage multi-sector partnerships with innovative funding mechanisms like the Child Nutrition Fund model, where philanthropic commitments incentivize government investment. Invest in government capacity building through pilot projects that demonstrate effective approaches and scale with government collaboration.
  • For Technology and Platform Innovation: Harness digital storytelling by combining emotional human stories with logical scale explanations to cut through noise and enable peer-to-peer advocacy. Build resilient response systems by developing rapid deployment mechanisms for crises and establishing pre-existing organizational relationships.
  • For Cultural Diplomacy and Youth Leadership: Create inclusive decision-making structures by transforming organizational governance to include community voices in leadership and move from consultation to true shared governance. Document and scale successful models by systematically capturing effective practices in diverse cultural contexts and creating learning networks to share innovations.

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