There is a long-running debate about the relationship between philanthropy and politics. Traditional received wisdom is that philanthropists should steer of politics, but there is a growing view that the two are inseparable and that philanthropy both can and should take a political position. Some do more than take a political position, funding political parties, too. This happens at both ends of the political spectrum, with left- and right-leaning funders supporting not only campaigns by politicians but also funding opinion formers who adopt the same views.
What are some of the ways that the relationship between philanthropy and politics is playing out, what form should the relationship take and where should the limits lie? This 1 hour webinar will explore these questions.
Jeff Kwasi Klein
Co-Director
Multitudes Foundation
Johanna Mair
Stanford PACS Distinguished Scholar
Stanford University
Henry Alt-Haaker
Senior Vice President
Robert Bosch Stiftung
Hello everyone and welcome to this webinar on the relationship between philanthropy and politics organized by Alliance and sponsored by Mercer my name is Andrew Milner I’m freelance writer and researcher and I’m also alliance’s features editor and Albi in the chair for today’s discussion uh our conversation also holds alliance’s December Edition due
Out early next month the special feature of which is on this topic we’re very lucky to have with us today contributors to the issue among our panelists including both of the guest editors for the future we’ve got coming up on our panel we’ve got Jeff quasy Klein and
Sarah Dua from the multitudes foundation got Yana mayor from the her school in bin and we’ got Henry alt Harker from Bosch in Germany uh before we hear from our speakers let me just say a brief word about the format for this event we’re going to run for an hour each of
The panelists will make a short presentation and then we’ll will open it up to a question and answer session which we invite all of you to take part in but do go ahead and say hello in our chat which you should be able to see on
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There’s a long running debate about the relationship between between philanthropy and politics traditional received wisdom is that philanthropists should steer clear of politics but there’s a growing view that the two are actually Inseparable and that philanthropy both can and should take a political position this is becoming more marked as
The political Arena becomes more polarized and it happens at both ends of the political Spectrum with left and right leaning funders supporting not only campaigns by politicians but also funding opinion formers who adopt the same views Amit this kind of growing clamor of a Phil and its role in politics and
The contrasting political views of those who are firmly committed to supporting their own political agendas there are also voices raised to point out that the fory through philosopy public Capital forces are exerting an undue influence on public decision making so what form should the relationship take and where
Should the limits lie how far and in what direction is it legitimate for philanthropy support political initiatives or we actually seeing a sea change in the relationship between the two with philanthropy taking a more acknowledged and significant part in the supporting political campaigns moving as it were from walk on parts to being
Serious actors in This webinar we’re going to try and explore at least some of these questions so well you’ve heard enough from me now uh let me now bring in our first panelists uh they’re making a joint presentation I understand and it’s uh Sarah Duda and Jeff quasi kleene from
Multitudes Foundation let me introduce them both together both of the co-directors of multitudes foundation a European Foundation supporting political change makers working to make politics more inclusive hopeful and human in Sarah’s case before joining multitudes she launched and led the 30 million members mobilization platform change.org in France and helped millions
Of French people to change laws business practices and grow movements that changed the conversation in the country she also co-founded a movement building shared purpose between activists and social entrepreneurs and CLE activists running for elections she trains and supports change makers on organizing mobilization and narratives encouraging them to use their detail
Values to build Collective power Jeff quy Klein also codirector of multitudes uh before joining multitudes he led the Mayim fund at each1 te1 EV aoto a black Le Community Based education and empowerment organization providing financial and ideational support for the empowerment work of black activists initiatives and organizations in Germany prior to this
He led Germany’s first anti-discrimination counseling center for black African and African diaspora people of toyoto he’s a member of the Berlin Senate advisory committee equality in black and a board member of MiG Berlin a where advocates for the rights and interests of black and PLC communities as well as a vared postmigrant self
Organizations he’s a forign party official of Germany’s green party and was a candidate for the Berlin State parliament in 2021 Jeff and Sarah I don’t know you going organize this but do come in and tell us about your work yes I will take this on thank you
So much um thanks for having me good afternoon also to everyone who is joined in um yes my name is Jeff Cy Klein codirector of multitudes foundation I’m very happy to discuss um this important topic this important Nexus between politics and philanthropy um as Andrew just mentioned
We’ve had the pleasure of guest editing um this upcoming edition of allance magazine uh and I it’s immensely important and I say this because there is ample need to reconcile the widespread hesitation within philanthropy to fund political work and to actually realize philanthropy’s role um and also the responsibility in
Helping to shape democracies for the future and on that um and also a democracy that can deliver on its promise of actually being representative uh a democracy that is also responsive to the needs and the desires of the people living in in the society and um and this is also important with growing
Um growing threat from the far right also a democracy that is resilient against uh any attempt to dismantle it and this Reckoning uh with philanthropy’s role in ensuring that democracy functions um maybe as advertised or even better this is one of the uh reasons why we set up multitudes foundation and I
Want to tell you a little bit about our work um we are uh committed to identifying political change makers across Europe um and nurturing their efforts to reimagine politics and our goal in this is to Foster uh a political landscape that is truly inclusive human and helpful um we doing this by
Empowering these political change makers and providing them with resources Financial Resources strategic advice or practical um trainings uh but beyond that we also create a community of practice which is a network where ideas can freely flow where experiences can uh be shared and where uh the members
Enrich each other in their mission and in their Vision to reimagine politics um our scope of what we fund is Broad but at the same time very focused we support initiatives that prepare new lead leaders to run for office um new leaders coming from underrepresented communities that are fully equipped with uh the
Skills and the knowledge that they need in order to uh be successful uh we also work with initiatives that cultivate more inclusive and human political cultures for example working directly with political parties um and also initiatives that are finding ways for people and communities uh to mobilize and to actually build political power
Uh we invest in this Mission because uh a democracy that truly serves everyone is a democracy that also includes everyone because when political representation falls short and this is something that we’ve seen uh in history throughout but also we see this right now when political representation falls short trust in institutions uh
Diminishes uh and pressing challenges uh cannot be addressed um prent challenges like the climate change um Rising inequalities um and so on so our hope and uh our belief is that through supporting these political uh change makers change makers we can actually turn the tide on this um people
Associated with multitudes these are our grantees our grant making council local connectors all the people that we work with across Europe um to really understand what is going on in each um uh local uh context uh and also the many people who are in our community of practice they are all
Dedicated to uh building a democracy that that really and genuinely works for everyone we’ve just had a workshop in in Berlin last week where we brought together people who are political change makers from different sectors working together and thinking about how representation uh actually what representation really looks like in a
Political setting uh but also thinking about how we can um dismantle um some of the barriers to it um and irrespective of the background so the idea of course is that a democracy works for everyone irrespective of the backgrounds who they are what they believe in or who they love and uh to
This we really need to prioritize the perspectives and knowledge of those that are most impacted by a lack of political under uh representation and ensuring that their voices are heard and if we want a democracy that works for everyone we need on the one hand grasp Roots efforts that mobilize and Empower people
But on the other hand we also need inclusive political leadership and decision- making because it is inclusion this framework of inclusion that provides um um a general framework for how we can uh structure change and how we can actually uh change political cultures at well uh as well at the same
Time um I will close now but maybe one last thing that I want to say is that we can only succeed in in this uh with a joint effort so joining forces building community and this is exactly where the outstanding role of philanthropy also comes into play um these efforts by the
Political change makers by the ecosystem uh of democratic renewal they warrant support they need our support and it is on us as funders to deliver on this and to help to create uh a future yeah where politics can actually be more than just a power game but can actually
Be me meaningful uh and how it can affect people’s life positively uh I will close with this and uh pass on to Sarah thanks a lot Jeff thanks uh for inviting us and really excited to be with you all and see you’re all committed uh to doing a little bit of
The reflection around around what politics needs to to do and and how philanthropy can help it to change I think when we worked on the issue and uh with the alliance team one of the thing we really wanted to touch on was what is actually political philanthropy I think
We have some you know preconceived idea of what can be political philanthropy and what we’re really trying to do with multitude is to say the same way you know there’s a whole field for social Innovation there is a whole field for political Innovation and especially when
It when we talk about democracy we need to invest that field as philanthropist as activists as actors that are committed for a better future for all um so one of the thing that was really interesting when we started talking about the project of multitude and the
Reason for setting it up uh was that very few philanthropic actors actually invest in that field and so we wanted to also set up multitudes Foundation to engage the conversation on why is that and what can we do for more philanthropic actors to engage but also
Do it uh in a very open and inclusive way as as Jeff has mentioned but with clear values that we can help promote and one of these value being uh Democratic you know the value of democracy and the value in inclusion in making democracy function so the question we really asked our ourselves
Um as we set up multitude but also writing this this issue was like what what are we afraid of why haven’t we yet put money into like building the infrastructure uh for great politics you know we’ve as philanthropist put put money into infrastructure for great education we put money in infrastructure
For you know a good uh Health uh system or you know cultural creation for example so why can’t we do the same to have a functioning democracy and ecosystem for us it’s really possible to do that and to invest in political work uh that’s really going to reshape the
Way politics function and I want to give a few example of of the the projects that we fund so you understand what we mean by both political Innovation and the idea of inclusion in politics uh one uh one of the example is that we fund initiative that uh work to help uh to
Have a better representation of different social background in politics and especially how political party can tackle this question a few political parties have been good at including a vast diversity of of of representation when it comes to social background but not all so this initiative that is in
France it’s called democrati La politics so democratize politics uh Works to both research and document and also mobilize people who are from the social backgrounds to really engage in the political work and also engage with political parties there’s a lot of examples like this where we can have initiatives that contribute to the
Functioning of democracy and make basically fit for future so mtit Foundation really we’re trying to to show that there’s a different way to do political philanthropy that is not only you know focusing on one specific party or one specific candidate but is actually making the political ecosystem function
Well uh we think it’s actually a very very big responsibility for funders and for philanthropies to invest that field um and that it’s really time to take care of our politics uh I think we all aware with what’s going on especially in the in the past few weeks of the
National and international challenges that we’re up against in Europe but also across the world and that we cannot risk uh those challenges uh to to become even uh bigger if we don’t engage in the question of democracy and politics specially um I think that for a lot of
Philanthropist you know and this is one of our founder Daniel SX who’s also contributing to our work who says that you know that democracies has allowed a lot of you know social business to flourish and that as you know even entrepreneurs uh we need you know to
Give back uh to this system that has provided uh the the economic development and the prosperity for future generations to strive so there’s this this big responsibility um and there’s also this urgency and I think we really try to push that also in the editorial
Piece that you will be able to read in the issue is that we need to respond now in the ways uh in which politics across Europe is failing us um and that this is a long-term effort but that doesn’t make it less urgent uh if we of course we
Won’t see change overnight and I think that’s really one of the thing where we can do philanthropy differently is like we basically invest for the future but if we don’t invest now in making politics more inclusive more hopeful and more human uh we’re going to face even
Larger challenges than the ones we are facing now so I will just close and and pass it to I I don’t know how I have to pass it to I will pass it back to you Andrew but just really we we hope that what will see in the issue of of of of
This um Alliance magazine is that there’s a really wide range of initiatives that we can invest in when it come when it comes to democracy and politics and that it is very important to do so uh and that we’re willing to you know work with you if you’re
Interested and discover what are the different initiatives you can fund but also how you can engage uh as Jeff say at a very local level to make really politics inclusive and for right thank you very much Sarah and Jeff um just so absorbed what you were
Saying that I for I was part of the discussion uh just let me ask you this I mean you you talked about the word fear in respect to philanthropists and and getting involved in politics what do you think is the root of that is it just that philanthropy is being kind of over
Scrupulous about not involving itself in the sort of in what it sees as not its business or is it just a sort of long kind of internalized process that the two sphere should be different in some ways they seem kind of related they’re both after some respects the public good
So why aren’t they more integrated in some ways I mean I’m asking you two that but it’s also a question for the other Bist too to to think about it I can try to give an answer now and maybe other do do by all means um you know I think that
There are two things one and I think you have some article in the issue that touched to that is that sometimes Phil philanthropy and politics haven’t worked well together because it hasn’t been transparent and it hasn’t been clear for people how the money used by philanthropist where what it was used
For so I think there’s something about transparency but for me the bigger question is um how do we sit with the idea of neutrality and how do we sit with the idea that basically democracy would be kind of functioning by itself and trying to interfere in it would be
NE negative thing I think we can all agree that right now there are some interferences and there are some money in there is some funds that are invested in trying to orient uh the way our society functions and the way democracy functions so for me the fear is is is
Coming from a fear of of leaving a a position of neutrality which is not really one to be fair I think like we need to engage and we can be very clear about the values that we are trying to defend and that’s what we do with multitudes Foundation uh we’re
Nonpartisan but we are value LED so we know the kind of democracy that we want to build that’s a democracy that is inclusive uh where you know democracy actually serves everyone and that means that it answers the big pressing challenges and it takes the the perspective of all people who are
Involved in Society so I think to answer your question the reason why we’ve been afraid is that we need to ask ourselves what is this you know neutrality that we are trying to to uphold and does it really exist and and can we challenge it right thank you very much Jeff I’ll
Come at you on that if I may at some point just let me move on to the next panelist for now um then we can sort of make a bit of progress uh our next speaker is Johanna mayor Johanna is a renowned organization strategy and Leadership professor at the her school
In b in she’s a leading Authority in Social Innovation with research published in top academic journals as the academic editor of the Stanford social in Innovation review and co-director of the global Innovation for impact lab she plays a pivotal role in shaping the discourse around social Innovation she advises companies and
Governments and social innovation has been recognized with numerous Awards including being named a faculty Pioneer by The aspin Institute Yanna welcome uh come in just do do tell us about your your idea about making for instance democracy future fit what does you mean by that thank you Andrew and thank you
For the kind invitation I’m delighted to contribute to the discussion here today on the relationship between politics and philanthropy also then with an article co-authored with sebastia Mana and Melisha oik from the her school now coming back to your question on Democrat making democracy future fit this is
Actually at the core of our research uh where we follow the emergence of political Innovation understood as a newly for uh formed field of practice that makes politics politics and political change the objective of innovation and this is where we believe this is also an opportunity space for
Philanthropy but that also puts up some question marks for philanthropies to address and I will come back to that in a second so what was exciting for us was to see that these political change makers as Jeff and Sarah refer to them or these Innovative initiatives such as
Them themselves join politics brand new bundestag in Europe kesb in the United States fixed politics in Nigeria we have colleagues here on the webinar from Canada number of initiatives there they cover a broad pro-democratic political Spectrum some support Progressive social policym others promote the interests of under represented communities but what
They have in common and what is at the core of political Innovation is that they diagnose problems in the political system and collectively work towards Solutions importantly here these Solutions do not only reimagine politics but proactively change how we practice democracy and instigate thereby reform and transform information in the Democratic
Infrastructure political Innovation as a practice encourage us to think about social change and political change as interrelated and not as decoupled and for me as the academic editor of Stanford social Innovation review this was certainly a welcome opportunity to pay attention to the political side of social Innovation as we all know Innovation
Never emerges in a vacuum and therefore we find it useful to talk about social Innovation also as a field of practice think of a field as a ecosystem or a community where different players have different and often distinct roles now what I’m going to say now are stylized roles and there are
Players such as multitudes Foundation that actually assume all of these roles orchestrators for example uh multitudes Foundation builds a community around more inclusive human and hopeful politics in Europe innovators such as for example Jana de the founder of we belong in Luxembourg develop and introduce solutions to problems that
Correspond that the solutions correspond to democratic principles again and then the enablers that provide support in the form of financial resources or engage in additional field binning activities B Foundation here today Obama Foundation OSF Lander Foundation Innovation and politics Institute number of others now the topic of the
Webinar is to rethink the relationship between philanthropy and politics and I’m convinced that the rise of political Innovation represents a unique opportunity here for that because as we know the relationship between philanthropy and political change is a comp complicated one and it remains contested we also know that philanthropic funding to support
Democracy work is clearly Rising only in the US we have seen numbers Rising uh 5.7 billion since 2011 spent to strengthen US democracy now we don’t always have to reinvent everything so three strategy used by the number of foundations that have been strengthening protecting de democracy for decades are of course also
Viable options for supporting political Innovation supporting for example the creation and capacity building of innovative projects for democracy that strengthen the links and networks between innovators and enablers also here the Bosch Foundation today here but also the Ford Foundation have been doing this for a long time second the practice
Of supporting individual innovators through knowledge transfer or training think about the Obama Foundation program Lander Foundation has a beautiful program they are still relevant and third philanthropist developing their own democracy strengthen project the HED Foundation the OSF for example are examples however the rise of political innovation not only amplifies funding
Opportunities for philanthropy it also requires us to reflect on the very principles and practices of for Grant making targeting political change and you briefly touched upon that Andrew and and Sarah already so for me one way to reimagine philanthropy in the context of political change is to use the image of zero problem
Philanthropy my Stanford P’s colleague Christian SOS has recently used this term to alad allude to the responsibility of philanthropy to create healthy contexts healthy contexts that prevent problems from arising the analogy here is medicine 3.0 that tries to prevent diseases healthy democracies are healthy contexts that enable social economic and political
Progress reming philanthropy in this way also then requires us to reflect on the prevalent practices we have to fund social Innovation let me just allude to three aspects where we actually need to constructively re revisit our practices first how we support political Innovation I believe philanthropist must move Beyond mere performance-based
Funding linear logic models are hardly applicable when the ambition and desirable impact is to create healthy democracy second creating a healthy democracy requires advocacy work and new tools to combine elements from social Innovation and movement building and third philanthropies also must revisit their portfolio strategies to support support political
Innovation in order to create healthy context healthy democracies we need a repertoire and a combination of institutionalized political action and non- institutionalized political action as Sarah already mentioned there’s a lot at stake political Innovation must and this is what also Jeff mentioned it must be an ongoing and a collective effort to
Ensure de democracy remains an effective and suitable operating system for social order and progress this requires all of us to revisit the division of labor and the way we operate this by the way also applies to us researchers we have stepped outside of our comfortable Ivory Tower and operate
In political Innovation as learning Partners thank you thank you you was I was particularly struck also in your article about the the point you made about the need to sort of have a different or abandon the sort of the traditional ways Grant makers have of measuring Effectiveness I
Mean could you just elaborate on that for a second do you have a sort of an alternative notion in mind or is it something that just needs to be explored yeah Andrew we have known for a long time that the way we evaluate or assess advocacy work is very has to be
Very different how we uh evaluate and assess classical social Innovation intervention that uh address um a problem a technical problem but then have also a clear way of imagining what is the out the output and the outcome potentially impact so uh political work advocacy work is far less linear and
Also the attribution Andrew the attrib ition of who actually was triggering this particular impact is very hard to do and this goes back to what I emphasized what Jeff emphasized what Sarah emphasized this has to be a collective effort and therefore that collectiveness has to also show up in
The toolkit that we uh uh assume or adopt to to measure progress great thank you very much uh obviously we’ll come back to you in the question uh just let me move on to our final panelist who is Henry alaka um in his role as senior vice
President BOS Henry Al Harker headed the Strategic Partnerships and Rob BOS Academy department since January 2020 this includes the foundation’s programs addressing political decision makers it’s Think Tank Partnerships and the Rob BOS Academy has said as such the department contributes to the foundation’s activities in all its thematic areas before joining the
Foundation in 2013 Henry headed the Parliamentary Office of the German minist of Justice Saina L ho schnurer sorry this today’s webinar has been a big tax on Mobility to pronounce non non-english languages um so I’m hoping I’m getting these pronunciation more or less right he served as political officer of the Canadian
Embassy in Berlin and worked for the international NGO humanity and action on human and minority rights his expertise includes migration and integration German Politics as well as European and transatlantic Affairs he’s an alus of several German foundations including the German national academic Foundation Henry welcome do come and tell us about
About the work of of the bosong in in political Affairs thank you Andrew and thank you for for inviting me asking a foundation executive to speak about his work that he’s passionate about is a very dangerous Endeavor I try to keep it to 5 to seven minutes um but because Johanna
Was so kind and mentioned the BOS Foundation several times as a positive example I want to make transparent that I’m alumnus of the hery school and I’m very happy that you’re yanna’s researching on those fields she wasn’t there when I was a student otherwise I would have taken her class um yeah so
I’m going to tell you a little bit about what we’re doing um uh so the so we strongly believe as my predecessors have also said that uh Civil Society voice has to be heard in political debates has to be represented uh uh in order to have a lively and vibrant democracy but the
Problem of Civil Society voices is often that they are not very well resourced resource to do political advocacy um and um private foundations do have the financial but also the political and social capitals to support those voices that need to be heard in order to make democracy more inclusive and more
Representative uh but don’t have the means to do so and um Sarah mentioned uh the tension of neutrality of of Foundations and why we are so hesitant to do that and what is important in our work is that we say we are nonpartisan uh but we are not neutral um and we are
Not neutral because we do have values uh that we uh that our work is based on we are not neutral because we want to change society because we do detect certain ills in society that we try to tackle and that means we inherently political but we are not on one side of
The political Spectrum supporting one political party uh or or do political advocacy in the Party politics sense and that is important to have values and principles but to never be um kind of in in one political camp in a way on one political party so how do we actually uh
Work and do that um we do basically combine three streams of our work in one Department in order to use synergies between it one is uh that we are trying to um promote the evidence-base of policymaking we believe that uh policy has to be more evidence-based uh and we
Do that uh by supporting the supply side if you will so we’re supporting think tanks as primary evidence producers uh with concrete policy action and advice uh um as institutionally as we can so we shifted largely to institutional funding to give them very much flexibility and Agility to react spontaneously to
Changes in society um and we are specifically funding uh expertise that comes from the so-called Global south or the global majority or you know the former colonized you you pick a term that feels comfortable with you but the voices that are under represented in global discussions um because we believe
That you know if we continue to talk uh Among Us nice you know nice transatlantic white men in their 50s we might not be able to tackle the challenges that we have to uh that are coming up on the 21st century that are more Global more interconnected and more
Multipolar and so we are trying to support the voices from the so-called uh Global South um on the on the supply side if you will um we doing it by fing as I said we’re doing it by funding think things we’re doing it by funding networks like the global South um
Initiative the Southern Voice initiative sorry it’s a think tank um group from the global South but also support the sector itself for example the think tank lab that we’re doing with Merck and the DGP in Berlin because we realize that uh the think tank sector in some countries
Is developed more than in others uh and here I would you know say like Washington is far ahead from Berlin uh in a self critical way um on the quality of the think tank sector on the quality of political philanthropy I want to say it’s the opposite often people use the
Us as a positive example um but the lack of poltical political legitimization legitimacy that philanthropy has uh becomes very apparent when one looks at certain funding schemes in the US where you know private money has a huge impact on politics without ever having been elected by anybody to do that in a
Transparent way like s rightly said so I think you know maybe the more conservative cautious German approach is not always bad although I think we should be more bold and and being out there um but then on the demand side so talk supply side the demand side is the
Policy makers and the decision makers and we try to strengthen them we try to equip them with skills and knowledge uh to be able to actually um tackle the challenges of the future uh and we do it mainly in Germany although also with some International uh networks because
In Germany policy makers are recruited from a very local um uh in a very local way uh to put it politely that has certain advantages in terms of you know rootedness in their constituency but it has disadvantages in terms of their Horizon and their kind of
Perspective on the world and so we try to expose uh policy makers to International uh challenges by going for example to the Kennedy School in Harvard for an Executive Education seminar to to new school to get an Asian perspective to take study trips uh to for example
Ghana next year and and those type of things to kind of give them a way to see uh how policy challenges are tled elsewhere um but we also bring them together with uh um peers of other countries for example we run a program where Indian Australian and German and
Peace come together to tackle challenges on the Asia Pacific region so we try to strengthen um the capacity of decision makers and then lastly uh we work on advocacy um uh in which we try to amplify The Voice uh of uh our colleagues in the foundation and the
Expertise that they gain from their uh work um to give them a way to get the expertise inside of the political discourse uh and and also frankly train our colleagues in the foundation because you know working in the political space is not something um that everybody is comfortable with and lastly we are
Building bridges between experts decision makers and opinion leaders in our acad which is institution in Berlin uh where very rown International actors um come together who work on policy issues and they both enrich the policy debate in Berlin and Europe but they also go back with a better understanding
Of how Germany and and and Europe work on political matters and uh one thing I I have to say to to close is that we are very much trying to strengthen um marginalized groups within Germany because as Jeff andar rightly said you know we have a supposedly representative
Democracy but if you look at the actual diversity that we have in our political Chambers it’s very unrepresentative of the of the German public and so we are PR partner of multitudes among others to kind of change that um uh which if I can just say in a side comment is not always
Something that everybody applauds I just recently talked to uh to an MP uh that I very much respect and and he’s he’s he’s a great person to represent his constituency and a very educated um uh person but he said you know all these kind of new initiatives that bring all
These Outsiders into politics you know I had to work very hard since I’m very young to get where I am and they get in from the sidelines uh and you know and he understands that the the the parliament has to be more inclusive but you know as comes with every kind of
Power sharing you know power sharing often means some people have to give up power and as I as a white man always said we have had a couple of good centuries and maybe now it’s time to hand it over to to others uh and so so
That’s what what we are doing uh we are still as s rightly said uh in a minority of funders in Europe and I’m mainly also here to advertise for this kind of approach to work with policy makers and get more people uh to join the course and do differently experiment do it
Better so we can learn from them because I think there’s enough space for more funders to do those things right thanks very much Henry I mean the point you made there about your sort of coming from the sidelines is puts me mind of something else and that
To a certain extent because of the kind of political party machines a lot of kind of local and National politicians to a s in a sense sort of self self- selecting because they get into the machine early and they’re sort of brought on and groomed but those who
Aren’t the kind of voiceless we w’t been talking about the ones who are kind of marginalized how does philanthropy compensate for those who don’t have that sort of background or that kind of education I mean what what can it do because I mean they’ve got this whole
Kind of like as I said this whole kind of pipeline that feeds people into the the main parties and we is philos some going to off be able to offset that yeah I mean I just want to one thing before the the parenthesis that is important as
Someone who worked in in in Parliament for different MPS for many years I I don’t I don’t want to be misunderstood as someone who thinks that this kind of rootedness in the constituency is per se something negative because part of a democracy is that you go through this
Letter and through this process and you actually you know us educated Elites in our nice kind of offices uh in our suits we always think it should be experts on very substantive matters that go into politics that you know are experts on I don’t know International financing and
Stuff that is nice but you also need people who are able to speak to my mother my father and to go to the market square and communicate and to really understand what is needed on the ground and so this rootedness is important but for that reason I’m answering question
For that reason it is also important to get voices into Parliament that do have this perspective from a different angle who are you know who maybe did not go to university who maybe were not born in the country who maybe belong to other kind of marginalized groups and they
Don’t participate in political processes because they see they feel it’s not for them because they look at they watch the news and you know nobody looks like them and nobody speaks like them um they do they do not join because they don’t know how you know it’s very simple like where
Where do I call you know uh and and and they they just need sometimes and this doesn’t it’s not meant to be sounding patronizing or paternalistic but just skill training you know like speaking publicly is no rocket science uh being able to understand policy implications of a certain law is no rocket science
You know one can learn those things uh and uh it’s a matter of uh uh you know just you know being encouraged and that is I think what you know and you’re speaking to someone who’s the first in his family to went to University just a couple of people who in your upbringing
As a child come to you and say you can do that too is all you need and then you know you you have to you have to F for yourself and you have to compete on the political Market space like anybody else you know that that’s going to stay like
That and that’s a good thing um but you know there the you know Germany is becoming much more diverse uh than most Germans uh realize and it’s time that we see that in politics great yeah kind of think about those kind of concrete steps that you been talking about there it’s
Kind of important so unless anybody wants to jump in straight on that I’m going to move to the first question of the Q&A um that’s coming from T Hy um could you discuss the legitimacy of influencing the political system through philanthropy knowing that can’t actually read this now systems throughing know that
Inevitably money becomes the key factor in politics leaving large population groups out in the cold any y any anything to say about that the question on the question I’m trying to read the the the the question as well here yeah I think it’s it’s uh it’s basically going back to to the
Discussion that you also started with with Sarah in terms of uh the legitimacy of uh philanthropy to intervene in um the democratic system and political systems in general so the the point that I was trying to make to move also to use this as an opportunity to think about the role of philanthropy
And the the self identity of uh philanthropy as uh uh as a as a player who cares about creating healthy context implies that you don’t actively pursue particular agendas that is very much in line with actually Henry was talking about uh foundations not being afraid of being political because political uh doesn’t
Mean to take a a a particular party position it it means can also be nonpartisan but it also means that we have to stop pretending that there is philanthropy is neutral right I’m not going to open uh to the whole discussion in terms of uh is philanthropy
Democratic in the first place that’s my colleague Rob ree from Stanford PX have been writing about this and that will be basically exploding the session today but I think what we have to do is to normalize the fact that we need more political work supported by philanthropists without them actually uh
Steering in which direction this goes and this is why I so welcome and that’s why I spend 20 hours a week uh doing field workor in this in this uh space of uh uh um political Innovation because we are building a set of actors innovators orchestrators that are able to actually
Absorb philanthropic capital and then serve as those who basically uh can uh uh guard and engage in the political work I do not want foundations all of a sudden to have political in agendas and just because they are more resourceful uh uh uh dominate political agenda that would not be consistent with
Philanthropy as uh the actually meaning law for Humanity yes it’s about supporting the practice and politics rather about sort of taking political positions yeah absolutely we we have to if we care about democracy we have to understand that it’s a Living Concept you know it’s not something that is is put in stone
It’s we have to constantly strengthen it as a muscle right it has to be a living one and that means that we also have to rethink practices we have to uh uh put our finger our eyes on the aspects that do not work and this is why so why I so
Appreciate also the focus on inclusion that multitudes Foundation has no but this is an ongoing effort and I think philanthropies and you know we cannot just talk foundations are also different but philantropy uh themselves they have a really critical role here but I don’t think that the role is to interfere with
Political agendas great Jeff s Sarah anything to add to that well just because uh Johanna just mentioned how important it is to focus on in political inclusion I just wanted to make the point that and this also goes to the question um about philanthropy’s influence on policy and
An agenda I want to make the point that uh in order uh for us to be inclusive this also goes hand inand with with um overcoming structural barriers to representation there are um structural issues at place and this is the reason why we see a lack of representation from underrepresented communities so for
Example um uh very exclusionary structures and pol iCal parties for example that need to change the way that they actually welcome and the way actually um decide on the political list for example on the election list for example in order to have other people people coming in from other communities
That are maybe not as um included in some of the networks the informal networks that are necessary in order to uh win this um like Henry put it uh Marketplace of politics um that are facing also PE um um yeah yeah also facing harassment for example um that is
Coming because they are very targeted because they’re very visible as people from underrepresented community so there are a slew of um uh reasons why we don’t have um representation in the way that we want to have it um and we need to I think find uh structural solutions for
These structural issues as well and if we do that we and if politics is more inclusive there’s Al goes and this is something that I mentioned at the beginning it also goes to the culture of politics how we go about politics how people that are outside of politics
Connect to power um there are so many U self-organizations out there um there are so many communities that are actually already doing empowerment work for their communities that uh could be very well equipped to work together with um the political landscape to um uh address issues of their communities to
To uh create also uh policies that are that are very well versed to address these issues so if we change the way that politics work and if we change political culture to make it more inclusive this should this should also then prevent undue influence of certain groups that are not necessarily in uh
Working towards the greater good thanks Jeff let me um move on to this next question of from didra Morel um Dublin experienced riots and looting last Thursday night that terrified migrants and shut down the city how can or should philanthropy address the rise of the far right sorah can I pass that
Particular Hot Potato to you first if that is that okay yeah of course um yeah and I I want to thank you uh there for bring that question also this is something we’ seen happening all across Europe and I can say all across the globe because I see there are people
From everywhere here in the chat um I think it’s really what philanthropy needs to address is that those rioting and and you know this looting is happening because of a political debate that is extremely abrasive that is exclus extremely exclusive and that is extremely violent and so I think both we
Want to promote a political space that is not encouraging violence but also political discourse that is rooted in the IDE of coexistence and the ability for people to be respected and live dignified life so I think the way philanthropy can address that is actually by support the actors of this
Political change and I I feel like we’re repeating the same thing but you know Jeff and I working on the same project but I think the way phonopy can address that is by supporting those groups who are promoting an inclusive political culture and inclusive politics to be
Equipped what we know now and there actually I feel like I’m doing the the advertising for the issue but it’s really going to be interesting so I really encourage you to look at it but there’s an article that uh you know is going to be um you can read it the next
Issue by Alis B who talks a little bit about the amount of funding that gets into you know the kind of extreme right polarizing uh U work that’s happening all across Europe so we need to I don’t like to say we should just respond to that but in some way philanthropy should
Respond to the fact that there’s very very large amounts of funding like we’re talking about multiple millions that are invested in this kind of um abrasive politics uh exclusionary politics and that that end up with this violence so I think think we need to rebalance but
Also we need to think about how we make politics differently that’s why the the focus we have at multitude is based on these values of politics needs to be a place where um it is human and it is hopeful because I think that’s also what politics needs is a little bit more care
And so we also really focus not only on the initiatives that creates more inclusion but that do so with the idea of politics being a place for everyone to thrive and feel welcomed uh so I know it’s a very large answer for a very large question question but I agree that
This is something we need to address as philanthropists okay anyone else want to come on come in yeah Andre Andrew if I might because so not on the Dublin case because I don’t know I don’t know enough about it but um we we have this discussions in Germany now uh you know
Should philanthropy do something against uh you know uh the rise of the rightwing populist party um you know we have important elections coming up next year and there some of them in which the afd is the strongest party and my answer is always let’s not do something against
One specific party you know speaking about not being being partisan not being party political but let’s do something to strengthen the resilience of our democracy and that has something to do with institutions like media like legal institutions like courts and it has something to do with Democratic culture
In a country because those you know the people that that in in ports or elections are um supporting certain parties that we here in this room might not agree with they have to be reached they have to be talked to they have to be included because they do that very often because
They feel that they’re excluded um and as a as a philanthropic actor that is outside of the the party political game our rule our our role could be to bring actors together that normally wouldn’t talk to each other to give people voices that wouldn’t get voices uh and that I I
Believe is strengthening democracy and that might hopefully also decrease um you know the populist parts of the spectrum but it’s not a quick fix and it’s not something that just happens from one day to the other and then whenever an election comes up people are saying we have to do something right now
Because in three months of Elections like that’s not how it works because voters are not stupid you know if you come to talk to them only to tell them before the elections that they shouldn’t vote a certain way you know I would just out of spite vote exactly that way you
Know because I would feel treated like a child right so in the sense it’s it’s a kind of whole cycle isn’t you need to sort of revive institutions you need to revive institutions by turning people back onto them making them feel they’re sort of relevant so it’s a question
Where do we start the process does it start with kind of Jeff and Sara’s work in organizations like that sort of bringing different voices into politics is is is that the starting point I’m afraid Andrew we have to to um to um think in different ways about this I’m
With Henry that this is really the backbone work that foundations need to do and they do a great job and they are in Germany the first ones to also say deliberately Embrace political as the way we discussed it and yet I think there is a sense of urgency where I
Think we we will need to do something so dor great to to hear you uh from you or or read from you great to uh connect again so and the same as in Ireland in Germany there will be a c of urgency next year and I’m afraid we will not be
Able uh to just uh uh follow the path that you described Henry I think there needs to be a parallel effort I’m not saying that should be done by the by foundations like you it could be much more uh uh citizen mobilizing but there needs to be something that we need to do
In terms of uh preventing something that we have seen coming and we haven’t done anything and that goes back to the point of of of political Innovation is something that needs to be attentive to the Pathology of the political system and each geography and each context I I
Follow here the chat and there are wonderful examples that bring us to Africa and and showcase how there it is often but about mobilizing voters to actually go to the election for a long time in the US the way we diagnosed pathologies was that everything is centered around these elections and all
Of philanthropic money just goes into the elections I’m afraid we are now in Europe and it’s really something that I realized last week where we also and I often said in Europe it’s different we have different pathologies such as um who goes into becoming a politician but
In Europe we will also have to deal with these punctuated uh events of Elections and start mobilizing people energy uh love and money around those okay great well we’re getting towards the far end of this unfortunately so what I want to do is to come back to
Circle back to all the panelists and ask them for sort of a kind of last reflection any kind of takeaways from this discussion what’s any Salient things that stand out for you about the the whole issue of philanthropy and politics Jeff can I can I move to you first if that’s
Okay yes yes of course uh so I think what what stood out for me but this is also something that must be very clear um this is a joint effort and when we speak about joint effort this is about Civil Society Politics as much as much
As it is about uh science um economy and so on and so forth so there is really this urgency um for people who want to see democracy Thrive and who want to see democracy survive also um to come together and see how we can actually uh affect this change that is necessary so
That democracies can respond to what what is happening right now uh this goes for so many of the issues that we’re having but really this idea of making democracy resilient is really based on uh a democratic culture um as Henry also put it um so for us to get to the point
Where we where we have this Democratic culture it is now time um especially also for for uh philanthropy to assume the responsibility that comes with it um um so even though this might not be a new point in that sense but I just want to make sure that we that this is
Emphasized and that we get out of this uh interesting conversation um with the notion of this is something that we need to do but also something that is very much feasible we have plans we have strategies to get there the change makers out there uh have the strategies
To get there it’s just a matter of actually doing this work and supporting this work so um let’s let’s let’s get on with it thanks thanks Je Henry over to you I don’t want to repeat anything we have said we have said so many interesting things one thing we haven’t
Touched and I want to add that um is uh what what Johanna just mentioned a half sentence you know democracy is changing you know you know what the Greeks invented 2,000 years ago you know where where landowning men made all the decisions it’s not what we live in today
And democracy has different shapes in France and Germany and us uh different countries and I think one answer to the challenges that we have discussed about you know uh increasing democr Democratic participation and sense of representation uh is to maybe think about how our democracy can change and
We are very often stuck um we Elites and all of us at this call are Elites um uh by the way what what we have learned how democracy is supposed to work and maybe we have to think about new ways uh of participating citizens uh of you know digital democracy citizen assemblies um
You know going more out into you know outside of our capitals and our nice little you know bouris neighborhoods where where we walk our dog and kind of get to the people that don’t feel represented by by by us uh and and and be open to to experiment with new forms of democratic
Participation great thank you Henry uh time the reminder uh Johanna could you could I ask you for a last a last thought yeah so I think Jeff and and and Henry already alluded to it and perhaps if I can put my own tag on what they said for me the conversation today but
Also what I see every day in our work on the field is is this immense opportunity that here we have the opportunity to to reconnect also Civil Society politics and philanthropy in a new way and it’s time that we do that because it’s going
To be a new way because it will be at eye level and I’m super excited to be part of that and and and and also contribute as a Learning Partner great thank you Sarah you have the last word thank you very much and it will be you
Know also following Yan’s comment uh I think many people commented in the chat there’s already tons of money in politics it is true but it is not used in a way that is serving you know like politics that works for everyone I just want to say a word about how we fund
Because this is something very important for us as well uh it’s not about a very top- down last minute approach as Henry mentioned is about getting people who are actually affected by under representation to decide how they’re going to do that so having really a bottomup approach in philanthropy a
Trust based approach is Go is is not only the amount is also the way we are funding that’s going to make a huge difference great thank you very much thanks to all of you um it’s with me to sort of close down the proceedings now uh I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s
Discussion I certainly have don’t forget that Alliance is running a joint subscription officer with offer with nonprofit quarterly and you could save $49 if you subscribed to both before the 30th of November so do click the link in the chat if you’re interested in that again thanks very much to our expert
Panelists to Mera for sponsoring today’s events to the alliance team in particular em mcal for producing the event and most of all for all of you for taking part in listening uh last event of the year is a live stream called 2023 a year in philanthropy where our panel
Will be discussing philanthropies AI journey and how far there’s left to go with EDI so again if you’re interested in that do click on the link in the chat um thanks again to all um and goodbye