Updates
New developments from DATA4Philanthopy
Blog Series
Unlocking New Frontiers in Philanthropy: A Blueprint for High-Impact Giving Dec 17, 2024
How can philanthropies be more effective in addressing societal challenges? Renaissance Philanthropy, a new non-profit organization that partners with individuals, families, and foundations, has developed a set of Playbooks toward that end. Key concept involves counterfactual giving - examining alternative approaches to address societal needs that have not been widely explored, yet could be highly impactful.
Blog Series
Exploring the Intersections of Artificial Intelligence and Philanthropy: A New Handbook Nov 5, 2024
As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to advance across domains, questions remain around how philanthropies can harness the latest AI innovations within the grant making cycle, how data can support responsible AI development, and the role of philanthropy in the AI ecosystem.
Blog Series
The Critical Role of Questions in Building Resilient Democracies Oct 22, 2024
Asking questions in new and participatory ways can complement advancements in data science and AI while enabling more inclusive and more adaptive democracies.
Blog Series
Challenging Existing Evidence: How Philanthropy Can Improve by Questioning Itself Oct 14, 2024
In their article, "Philanthropy Needs More Disconfirmation Bias", published in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, Kecia Bertermann and Andy Martin explore how philanthropic organizations often struggle to acknowledge and act on disconfirming evidence—data or findings that challenge the assumptions underlying program designs or investments. They argue that as philanthropy shifts toward broader systemic change, there is a growing need to confront the cognitive biases that can distort decision-making. Unlike other sectors, such as law or medicine, where structures exist to regularly test assumptions, philanthropy often lacks mechanisms to address these biases. The article offers lessons from other sectors and outlines ways philanthropy can build practices, structures, and cultures that embrace disconfirming evidence.
Blog Series
Accelerating a New Science of Questions for Effective Philanthropy Sep 30, 2024
How can philanthropies better harness the value of data to strengthen impact and evaluation assessments? Too many data analysis efforts start from the data supply, rather than the questions one seeks to answer. At the same time, many organizations across sectors are developing their own questions for data science, leading to fragmentation. There is an opportunity for philanthropy to explore new approaches for formulating and prioritizing questions to advance impact and evaluation assessments.
Blog Series
Selected Readings: Exploring the Power of Questions For Society Sep 17, 2024
The questions that society asks can transform public policy making, mobilize resources, and shape public discourse, yet decision makers around the world frequently focus on developing solutions rather than identifying the questions that need to be addressed to develop those solutions. This blog provides a range of resources on the potential of questions for society. It includes readings on new approaches to formulating questions, how questions benefit public policy making and democracy, the importance of increasing the capacity for questioning at the individual level, and the role of questions in the age of AI and prompt engineering.
Event
Philanthropy evaluation: Delivering a new science of questioning for philanthropy Sep 9, 2024
How can philanthropies build shared questions across the sector? How can philanthropies co-develop and prioritise questions with communities of interest? In this hour-long session, Stefaan G. Verhulst and Hannah Chafetz from The GovLab will delve into their latest resources on DATA4Philanthropy.net...
Blog Series
Aligning Strategies for Effective Systems Change in Philanthropy Aug 12, 2024
In June 2024, Jewlya Lynn, Ph.D., from PolicySolve, and Julia Coffman, M.S., from the Center for Evaluation Innovation, published an article titled "Passing in the Dark: Making Visible Philanthropy's Hidden and Conflicting Mental Models for Systems Change" in The Foundation Review, a publication of the Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy at Grand Valley State University. This article looks at the different ways foundations think about and approach systems change, and how these different approaches affect their strategies and success.
Blog Series
What We’re Reading (May/June 2024) Jul 8, 2024
In this edition of “What We’re Reading,” we provide a range of resources exploring the role of philanthropy in accelerating the use of data for the public good and how philanthropies can improve their own use of data internally. The readings not only respond to current data challenges but also highlight proactive strategies to ensure data benefits all sectors of society.
Blog Series
How to measure impact in times of complexity and uncertainty? Jul 1, 2024
Over the last few months, we’ve received many suggestions from the DATA4Philanthropy Network for future programming and resources. One of the topics we heard most was the need for new approaches to understand and evaluate impact. There have been many great impact and evaluation efforts across the philanthropic sector, but the majority remain in silo and there lacks consensus around what shapes our understanding of impact, the methods to measure it, and what it means in different contexts.
Blog Series
Designing a Blueprint For “Futures Philanthropy” May 21, 2024
On May 2, 2024 Philea hosted a webinar to launch a new report by the Futures Philanthropy Initiative and the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies entitled “Futures Philanthropy: Anticipation for the Common Good.” The webinar included a series of discussions with European philanthropies, interactive futures activities, and a presentation highlighting key aspects of the report.
Event
“Futures Philanthropy: Anticipation for the Common Good” – Publication Launch May 2, 2024
During this webinar, Philea and the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies will launch its new guide on using foresight for philanthropy in Europe. The guide includes several case studies on how philanthropies can use specific foresight practices.
Event
AI in Grantmaking: How to Fund Initiatives that Drive Social Impact Apr 23, 2024
This webinar by the Technology Association of Grantmakers and Philanthropy New York features discussion on grantmakers' experiences funding AI initiatives in the public's interest.
Blog Series
Increasing Transparency and Accountability in Philanthropy Apr 22, 2024
Explore how the "Transparency and Accountability for Philanthropic Organisations" guide developed by WINGS and the Transparency and Accountability Initiative empowers philanthropic organizations to enhance trust and implement concrete steps for transparency and accountability.
Blog Series
What we’re reading: April 2024 Apr 15, 2024
In this blog post, we provide recent readings on the intersections between data and philanthropy. These readings cover a range of topics including impact assessments, data responsibility, data standardization, data for philanthropic initiatives in the education domain, and more.
Blog Series
How to deal with uncertainty? Future Studies and Philanthropic organizations Mar 20, 2024
Explore how futurism tools can support philanthropic organizations in an era of unprecedented and rapid change. In the Chronicle of Philanthropy article “Futurism Is Having a Moment in Post-Pandemic Foundation Strategy,” Eden Stiffman presents an overview of possible tools that can help foundations prepare for the future.
Event
Artificial Intelligence and Philanthropy Mar 14, 2024
The Foundations Edmond de Rothschild Chair in Behavioral Philanthropy and the Geneva Centre for Philanthropy of the University of Geneva with the support of Fondation Botnar and another partner are hosting a conference exploring recent research on the intersections between artificial intelligence and philanthropy. The conference aims to accelerate the responsible use of artificial intelligence.
Blog Series
Data for change: measuring the contributions of small-scale fisheries Mar 11, 2024
A new online course on the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations e-learning website explores how data from multiple small scale fisheries can be combined to understand the impact on sustainable development.
Event
Responsible AI Adoption in Philanthropy for Funders Feb 22, 2024
This webinar will explore how funders can leverage AI in a responsible manner. It will include a review the Technology Association of Grantmakers' new “Responsible AI Adoption in Philanthropy” framework.
Blog Series
Data as a catalyst for philanthropy Feb 20, 2024
On February 19th, 2024 The Philanthropy Europe Association (Philea) published an article by Stefaan G. Verhulst about how philanthropic organizations can use data to transform decision making processes when facing complex 21st century challenges. The article provides five strategies philanthropic organizations can use to accelerate data-driven philanthropy and become data stewards.
Event
Evaluation for Learning in Trust Based Philanthropy Feb 19, 2024
Hosted by Philanthropy Australia, this event will include a presentation by Brenda Solarzano (CEO, Headwaters Foundation) about a process for trust-based philanthropy.
Event
Data Science, AI and Data Philanthropy in Foundations Feb 15, 2024
Philea and Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo are hosting an online event to launch their new report on how data and artificial intelligence are being used in philanthropy in Europe.
Blog Series
DATA4Philanthropy: Accelerating Data-Driven Innovation Across the Grant Making Cycle Feb 13, 2024
Key takeaways from the DATA4Philanthropy launch event hosted by Philanthropy Australia
Blog Series
Leveraging the “AI Voice” in Decision Making Cycles Feb 13, 2024
In the Stanford Social Innovation Review article, “Could AI Speak on Behalf of Future Humans?” Konstantin Scheuermann & Angela Aristidou discuss the opportunities to leverage advancements in AI as a way to include more voices in decision making processes (February 5, 2024).
Event
Accelerating data-driven innovation across the grant making cycle Feb 5, 2024
Join representatives of The Paul Ramsay Foundation and The GovLab at New York University on Monday 5 February, 2024 (EST), for an in-depth discussion on how the latest data-driven methods and tools can help transform grant making decisions. Learn more about the growing potential of data for philanthropy and become part of a new network of responsible data leaders across the philanthropic sector.
Blog Series
Accelerating the Use of Data and Collaboration in Philanthropy Jan 25, 2024
Alliance Magazine’s report on the “Future of Philanthropy” by Andrew Milner, Ese Emerhi, Heba Abou Shnief, and Mihika Chanchani and commissioned by Badr Jafar provides several insights on the current state of philanthropy across Africa, the Middle East and SouthEast Asia. Leveraging desk research and interviews, the report provides a series of trends about how philanthropy is done and where additional funding and resources are needed.
Blog Series
Navigating the Data-Driven Transformation in Philanthropy Jan 15, 2024
We are in the midst of a significant shift in the philanthropic sector, one that is increasingly embracing the power of data to enhance impact, inform decision-making, and promote transparency and equity. A new article by Ida Skrubbeltrang Hansen and published by Philea, titled "The Data-Driven Revolution: Philanthropy’s Path to Maximising Impact", delves into how philanthropic organizations are turning to data-driven approaches to align their actions with strategic goals and stakeholder expectations.
Blog Series
The Importance of Philanthropy in the Generative AI Era Jan 10, 2024
What does generative AI mean for philanthropy? How can funders accelerate the opportunities of generative AI for society while minimizing the risks? In the article, “10 Ways Funders Can Address Generative AI,” published in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, Kelly Born provides 10 suggestions for funders to support the ethical use of generative AI in the United States.
Blog Series
Leveraging Data-Driven Innovation in the Design Thinking Process Jan 8, 2024
In the article “Data in design: How big and thick data inform design thinking projects,” by Marzia Mortati, Stefano Magistretti, Cabirio Cautela, and Claudio Dell’Era published in Elsevier’s Technovation journal, the authors explore how big and thick data can provide value for design thinking projects with complex and ambiguous problems.
Blog Series
The Power of Open Philanthropy Jan 8, 2024
The “Open Philanthropy Guide: A guide for inclusive and transparent grantmaking” produced by New Philanthropy Capital provides an Open Philanthropy model centering transparency and inclusivity in philanthropic processes. The guide is divided into three main sections: (1) how to create an open process, (2) making the decisions, and (3) understanding your impact.
Publication
Questions as a Device for Data Responsibility: Toward a New Science of Questions to Steer and Complement the Use of Data Science for the Public Good in a Polycentric Way Jul 10, 2023
In this article, Stefaan G. Verhulst discusses the importance of formulating questions as part of data responsibility. Verhulst discusses his experiences with “The 100 Questions Initiative” which aims to identify the most pressing questions across specific domains using a participatory approach.
Publication
Modernizing philanthropy for the 21st century Apr 11, 2023
How can philanthropies move in a more deliberate yet responsible manner toward using data to advance their goals? In "Modernizing philanthropy for the 21st century" Stefaan G. Verhulst, Lisa Talia Moretti, Hannah Chafetz, and Alex Fischer propose a new framework for data innovation across the grant making process.
Publication
The Value of Data and Data Collaboratives for Good: A Roadmap for Philanthropies to Facilitate Systems Change Through Data Oct 13, 2021
In this chapter of "Data Science for Social Good," Stefaan G. Verhulst discusses the opportunity for philanthropies to use data to address 21st century problems. Verhulst describes the ways in which data can provide value for philanthropies, the data sources that can be leveraged, and a roadmap to achieve system-level change through data collaboratives.
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