The Myths of Philanthropy | The Center for Effective Philanthropy

“Like it or not, the philanthropic sector is on the precipice of radical change. The same narrative strategies and social inequities that allowed repressive regimes to emerge, spread, and take hold in the 1930s have been used to expand the power of dangerous political, corporate, and cultural actors around the world today.“

Mandy Van Deven, Founder, Both/And Solutions and Co-Lead, Elemental

April 8, 2025

“What would it look like if we were deliberate and transparent in talking about how philanthropic dollars were amassed? What if philanthropy operated in a way that looked more like returning than giving?“

Lisa Pilar Cowan, Former Vice President, Robert Sterling Clark Foundation

Published April 10, 2025

“[T]o learn the ways of the wealth protection industry from a position of naivety can, in time, free you up to question the assumptions it is rooted in and dependent on. In the world of excess wealth, even when there is more than enough, the operating principle is, perversely, one of scarcity.“

Louisa Mann, Chair, Thirty Percy and Director, Skagen Conscience Capital

Published April 17, 2025

“[T]he wide gap between the urgent demand for funding and the tepid response from foundations will not be resolved with a shift simply in spending policies. Rather, we must examine and evolve our deeply held narratives about the purpose of foundation spending.”

Dimple Abichandani, Advisor, Author, and Board Member, Solidaire Network

Published April 22, 2025

“These scarcity-based rationales are deployed so often in philanthropy that many accept them unquestioningly. Of course, as wealth inequality grows to levels unseen since the Gilded Age and foundation assets now exceed $1.6 trillion in the United States, it’s getting more and more difficult to ignore their obvious contradictions.”

Zaineb Mohammed, Director of Communications, Kataly Foundation

Published May 6, 2025

“In our view, philanthropy’s continued need to control the flow of resources is rooted in who is seen and believed to be an expert, and who is not — decisions that reveal and reinforce the power hierarchies that embed inequality in our modern world.”

Cassie Denbow, Resources and Reparations Co-Lead, Whose Knowledge?; élysse marcellin, Resources and Reparations Co-Lead, Whose Knowledge?; and Anasuya Sengupta, Founder and Director, Whose Knowledge?

Published May 13, 2025

“Many of us recognize that our work in philanthropy is about the navigation of power. Yet, how we focus our attention in our relationships is equally if not more important than how we maneuver unjust systems.“

Tesmerelna Atsbeha, Senior Program Officer, Private Philanthropy

Published May 15, 2025

“It’s tricky and often painful to reimagine a system while working within it and navigating its constraints consistently. Yet, we cannot be complacent or stop testing, particularly in our current climate.“

Erin Lynn Williams, Chief Field Building Officer, The Center for Cultural Power and Ilegvak, Culture Bearer, Artist, Designer, Filmmaker, Writer, Activist, and Educator

Published May 27, 2025

“Even when resources are seemingly scarce, with some funders retreating and others behaving with a ‘survival of the fittest’ mentality, we remember the many examples from nature that show how competition increases vulnerability, because it reduces one’s capacity to withstand environmental stress.“

Devi Leiper O’Malley, Co-Founder, Closer Than You Think; Ruby Johnson, Co-Founder, Closer Than You Think and Director, Global Resilience Fund, Purposeful; and Swatee Deepak, Co-Founder, Closer Than You Think

Published June 5, 2025

“This is not a time for anticipatory obedience or passive adaptation. It is past time for funders who care about racial and gender justice to step up and invest in Black feminist movements with the urgency and abundance required, funding expansively and beyond the limiting binaries that feel comfortable and safe.“

Vanessa Thomas, Program Manager, Black Feminist Fund; Trustee, Forward; and Co-Founder, Diasporic Development

Published June 12, 2025

“[F]under organizing isn’t simply about resource redistribution; it is about reckoning with the contradictions of being employed in a sector that should not exist in the first place, while also doing the work to return capital to the people from whom it was taken, historically and in the present day.“

Leanne Sajor, Director, Funders for a Just Economy Program, Neighborhood Funders Group and Neda Said, Senior Program Manager, Neighborhood Funders Group

June 17, 2025