The Future of Philanthropy for Biodiversity

Now more than ever, a paradigm shift is needed in philanthropy if it hopes to contribute to more durable solutions to the world’s most complex challenges. Power dynamics between grantors and grantees, donors and communities have always been an inherent part of philanthropy. In the past decade, growing awareness of economic inequality and racial disparities has begun to make these often unspoken undercurrents much more visible.  There are also issues that need exploring, such as human rights or siloed funding that create trade-offs and impede systemic impact.

In concert with this push towards philanthropic models that centre justice, equity, and diversity, there have also been repeated calls to identify and fund indigenous and community-led models and ways of conservation. While there are signs that private and institutional funders are paying attention, there has been a lag in engineering and designing systems that convert intentions and pledges into new funding mechanisms and giving structures. Creating hybrid spaces where stakeholders across geographical, power, and sectoral divides can incubate and test bold initiatives will be integral to fostering this vision of a more democratic and just form of philanthropy.