Creative Philanthropy

World-wide best practice in philanthropy is moving from a reactive response to community needs, as expressed through application forms, to a creative approach whereby trusts and foundations seek active engagement with communities through a proactive approach to finding solutions to pressing social issues.

Foundations’ value does not lie in their assets or expenditure per se. Their unique value lies in what they uniquely can do. Endowed foundations need to stop playing to their weaknesses and start playing to their strengths…Foundations enjoy the luxury of freedom from market and political constraints and constituencies. Many also enjoy the luxury of perpetuity…Foundations have sufficient resources and ‘space’ to allow them to think, to be truly innovative, to take risks, to fail and to take the longer term view…These characteristics…give them the potential to make contributions to society way beyond that which their limited resources might suggest. ...building on these characteristics enables foundations to build a robust role that harnesses their “privateness” for the public good. (Creative Philanthropy, Helmut k Anheier and Diana Leat. Routledge, 2006 pp7-8)