SAN FRANCISCO — Since leaving the Giving Pledge — the elite network of billionaires who commit to giving away half their wealth — Founding Director Olivia Leland has been conducting research on how to make philanthropy more effective.
Over the past three years, Leland has spoken with hundreds of philanthropists and social change leaders, and identified what she calls a market failure: “There are few effective mechanisms to match leaders looking to solve social issues at scale with the philanthropists interested in providing the right size and kinds of capital, and the partners needed to succeed,” as she described it recently in an article for Stanford Social Innovation Review.
Last week, Leland announced the launch of a new $500 million philanthropic collaborative called Co-Impact, which includes philanthropists such as Bill and Melinda Gates — who started the Giving Pledge — and shifts the focus from how much of their wealth they donate to how they give that money.