A big bet by California philanthropists David and Dana Dornsife is helping World Vision to supply clean water and sanitation to rural Africans. Above, World Vision staff work to drill a well in rural Ethiopia. (Photo credit: Jon Warren/World Vision)
Today, 11 Independent Sector members were featured in a Forbes Magazine story on how philanthropy is making “Big Bets” to solve society’s problems.
The featured members include The Bridgespan Group, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, The Sierra Club Foundation, The John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, United Negro College Fund, Lilly Endowment, Inc., Rockefeller Foundation, The David and Lucille Packard Foundation, Echoing Green, and Urban Institute.
A Big Bet is defined as an-eight-figure-or-more attempt to create systemic social change. IS President and CEO Dan Cardinali served on the Big Bets advisory panel.
From the article:
The consistent benefit: These bets free the recipient to focus on actual problem-solving. “Most of the nonprofit sector leaders and their teams have a constant tension between raising resources and focusing on programmatic excellence,” says Dan Cardinali, the CEO of Independent Sector, a coalition of nonprofits, foundations and corporate giving programs, who also served on the Big Bets judging panel. Getting a large donation spread over several years “unleashes the leadership team to lean in and face some of the more intractable social problems.” Big bets, in other words, can test a thesis rather than just cover a budget.
Read more at forbes.com.
