Last week, I had the privilege of speaking with Edgar Villanueva of the Decolonizing Wealth Project and Rich Besser of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation about the moment we’re in and what philanthropy needs to do to show up right now.
Our conversation was grounded in a powerful reflection from Vu Le, who recently wrote:
“[T]his is not a crisis like others. It’s not like the AIDS epidemic. It’s not like COVID. This is a rapid dismantling of democracy to replace it with an authoritarian state. This is more akin to Hitler or Mussolini’s rise to power. And debating whether the payout rate should increase to 6% or 10% is entirely missing the discussion we should be having: What does it take to halt and reverse the US’ (and the world’s) rapid descent into fascism?”
Here’s my take on how our sector can meet this moment amid the chaos.
Impact > Percentages
The conversation brewing around payout rates, which largely focuses on whether to increase from 5% to 6% or 10% is helpful in that this is indeed a time to increase giving wherever possible.
But the conversation can’t end there.
In addition to increased giving, we need to evaluate the short and long-term impacts we can have.
In the short term, we need to be vocal, visible, and unapologetic in our support for democracy and for racial and economic justice. This includes providing funding for legal strategies aimed at stopping the harm that’s being unleashed on our grant recipients and our broader democracy. Silence now sets a dangerous precedent for the long term.
In the long term, the stakes are too high for half-measures or self-congratulatory gestures.
Philanthropy must be willing to:
Redefine legacy. It’s not about preserving our institutions but about the impact we have on the world.
Follow the lead of frontline communities. They know what they need. Our job is to get resources to them as quickly and seamlessly as possible.
Prioritize community needs over perpetuity. If that means spending down our endowments to meet this moment, so be it.
The Risk of Playing It Safe
One of my greatest concerns is the pervasive focus of philanthropic leaders on self-preservation. Too often, the primary questions being asked are about keeping philanthropy comfortable by assessing possible risks to our organizations, our endowments, or our leadership.
These questions overshadow the urgent and candid conversations we need to have, even if they bring us out of our comfort zones.
Uncomfortable conversations like:
How can we better show up to support the work of our grant recipients?
How can we more fully resource the visions we claim to advance?
How can we leverage the full weight of our endowments and relationships at a time when our grant recipients and their communities need us to have skin in the game?
Some foundations have stepped up with strong statements and increased funding, and I’m deeply grateful for their leadership. But this moment demands we move beyond the comfort of cautious rhetoric into bold, decisive action.
Refusing Anticipatory Conformism
Underpinning these conversations is a growing sense that our work is taking place in the boiling pot of an autocratic takeover, where fear has become a powerful weapon.
The strange thing about fear is that you can feel it without having experienced any repercussions yet. This leads to what historian Timothy Snyder calls “anticipatory obedience”—people bowing down to repressive agendas before they’re even asked to by self-censoring and retreating into inaction out of fear of what might happen.
I see this fear taking root in philanthropic spaces in an unprecedented way.
The irony is that those who are most at risk—including many of our grant recipients—are often the most outspoken. Meanwhile, many in philanthropy, who often have vast economic and social privileges and protections, are retreating into silence.
Staying in a place of fear and despair simply cannot remain an option. None of us have the privilege of hiding and waiting out these crises.
We’ve got to be honest about feeling fear while consciously and consistently choosing to move into action with courage.
At Stupski, we’re doing this by grounding in our responsibilities to live up to our commitments, our long-term visions for a better world, and our relationships with each other and, more importantly, with the communities we serve.
LFG: Let Fear Go
The pot is boiling, and funders have a unique role to play. We can either let our fear drown us or take bold action to add all the resources we possibly can to the fight to protect democracy.
Instead of waiting for someone else to lead or retreating into silence, it’s time to show up in solidarity with the communities we serve and assure them, as well as each other, that we won’t back down.
Let’s do this.
- Glen
P.S. If you’re looking for an example of courage in action, check out (and support) the National Council of Nonprofits, which is punching far above its weight in this fight. I’ve really appreciated the leadership of folks like Diane Yentel, who are posting daily updates and actions. She’s showing us what it means to take on Goliath.
Let’s keep the conversations going. Connect and let me know what you think about the ideas in this post.
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