2019: The Year of Connected Philanthropy and Unprecedented Collaboration

This blog is part one of a four-part series that describes how we see the philanthropic industry evolving into a more connected and effective ecosystem – and how Fluxx is supporting and encouraging that evolution with our platform for democratizing philanthropy.

Over the last year in philanthropy we saw an extraordinary expansion of funds into nonprofit services and community efforts. In addition to markedly higher contributions from the formidable legacy foundations, we also saw material increases in funding coming from civil society: new waves of funding from individual and mega-donors as well as corporate social responsibility programs. In fact, these players combined employed over 12 million workers, granted a total of $410B, and that giving accounted for 2.1 percent of the U.S. GDP in 2017.

As 2019 arrives, we see the network of players in philanthropy expanding. Indeed, the very definition of “donor” is expanding – and we believe it will continue to do so throughout 2019. And, to support that evolution, the frameworks and technologies through which these contributors interact with the boots-on-the-street nonprofits must also expand to better connect, build collaboration, and deliver insights that make each player stronger.

At Fluxx, our mission is to provide the platform that connects and supports all parts of the philanthropy network, making it more efficient to operate and connect, freeing up funds, and driving greater impact. We are passionate about our role in helping to democratize philanthropy in order to engage and connect its many communities.

In upcoming blog posts, we’ll share our vision for where and how philanthropy can grow in 2019 by answering these questions:

1. How can technology be used to drive inclusivity and unify the contributors within an ecosystem of connected philanthropy? In an ideal world, the powerhouse groups of foundations, corporations, individuals, and the nonprofits themselves can all join together in a cooperative, combined (and informed) force that furthers the objectives of the social sector. But how does that actually happen? And what is the role of technology in supporting and fostering that network?
2. How can we both activate the entire philanthropic network and build capacity within that network? In philanthropy, we have long understood the application of technology to automate processes and increase operational efficiencies of, say, your foundation. However, to mobilize that larger network, we have to expand our toolset (and mindset) to make sure we aren’t simply passing burdens downstream to grantees. We’ll show you some of the ways this can happen.
3. How can we collectively create meaningful social impact through unprecedented collaboration? In order to take tech into the realm of measuring impact (whether it be across a region, an affiliation group, or even a selected cohort of organizations), we have to build common frameworks upon which quantitative and qualitative stories can be collected and told by grantmakers and grantseekers alike in real-time. This is no small feat, but we have some innovative ideas to share.

We look forward to sharing more with you soon!

As always, to learn more about Fluxx, visit www.fluxx.io or request a demo today.