Intervening at the Inflection Point

Viewpoints, pp. 10-23, 2007

7 Pages Posted: 2 Jan 2009

Date Written: April 1, 2007

Abstract

The article asks how philanthropists can make a difference over long periods in a changing world. From a structural point of view, philanthropic foundations can be designed to operate in the very long run, in principle in perpetuity. For example, the largest charitable grant-giver to London-only causes dates back to 1097. Since culture and society transcend the biological life span, they can "carry" the philanthropic foundation and the ethos its founder wished to express in perpetuity. This notion of "historical time" is an important driver of philanthropic action. Truly relevant philanthropy is associated with interventions at inflection points: tipping issues, funding major new research that fundamentally alters the intervention options, and thereby catalyzing systemic change with implications well into the future. The article suggests that it is best to look at three types of inflection points simultaneously. Together, they play an important role in defining the constraint-opportunity set of philanthropy: issues, grantees and self. First, to be solved, an issue needs to be sufficiently ripe in terms of public attention and availability of solutions - such as global warming currently - or a long-run commitment to ripening the issues needs to be made. Second, from a social impact perspective, maximizing the catalytic effect of the grantee is critical as well. This requires awareness of inflection points when making resource allocation decisions regarding specific organizations - is the grantee organization currently in a steady-state, or is it about to experience a step change such as rapid growth, merger or refocusing the mission. Moreover, philanthropists' needs and giving preferences change as the personal lifecycle progresses. Thus, timing the self is important as well. Philanthropic interventions that are designed to be commensurate with and properly anticipate built-in inflection points in the personal growth process tend to be more effective at sustaining long-term donor satisfaction and commitment. To maximize its impact, the article develops a framework for inflection-point philanthropy.

Keywords: Philanthropy, non-profit sector

JEL Classification: L31

Suggested Citation

Martin, Maximilian, Intervening at the Inflection Point (April 1, 2007). Viewpoints, pp. 10-23, 2007, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1322254

Maximilian Martin (Contact Author)

University of St. Gallen ( email )

Tigerbergstrasse 2
St. Gallen, CH-9000
Switzerland

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