What is polycrisis philanthropy?

The start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 jolted philanthropy. A sector accustomed to making deliberated funding decisions found itself hastening its pace to provide grantees the kind of immediate, emergency assistance needed to help communities respond to lockdowns, the loss of income, hospitalizations, and other impacts of a global pandemic. That marked the beginning of what experts are now calling a period of polycrisis, meaning there are multiple deadly and interconnected crises happening at the same time. There are ongoing conflicts in Gaza, Sudan, Ukraine, and Yemen that are affecting global trade, causing mass displacement, and impeding the delivery of humanitarian aid. Climate change also has increased incidents of droughts, floods, hurricanes, and other disasters that have greatly impacted food and health systems. This confluence of catastrophes is threatening to derail global development and jeopardize progress on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. In light of these unprecedented challenges, philanthropic funders have turned to new approaches. Trust-based became a buzzword for many. The practice involves removing many of the customary restrictions on how grantees can spend money and eliminating some or most reporting requirements to show how the grant was spent. Other funders, such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, have stuck to more traditional, metrics-based approaches while still expanding their work to address overlapping issues — including climate, agriculture, gender equity, and global health. In general, foundations and other philanthropic groups are beginning to take a more holistic approach to help communities deal with multiple crises rather than focus on just one issue, according to Benjamin Bellegy, executive director of Worldwide Initiatives for Grantmaker Support, or WINGS, a network of philanthropic groups. WINGS calls this approach polycrisis philanthropy. “We have put the polycrisis at the center of our strategy and philanthropy advocacy work,” Bellegy told Devex. What is polycrisis philanthropy? It’s similar to climate philanthropy in that they both recognize the impact a crisis can have on multiple systems. However, polycrisis philanthropy goes a step further by recognizing the intersection of global challenges beyond climate, “from climate disasters and health pandemics to economic inequality and political instability,” Tamzin Ratcliffe, director of Impact Trust and Resilience Funders Network, wrote in a recent blog post for WINGS. Polycrisis philanthropy leaves behind the idea of isolated crises and single, siloed solutions, she said. The goal of this approach is to create systemic change through a “nuanced, holistic strategy” that includes prioritizing the needs of local communities on the front lines of overlapping crises, providing them with resources, and including them in decision-making, according to Ratcliffe. What does polycrisis philanthropy look like? The holistic style of polycrisis philanthropy requires a mindset change for most funders, who are used to thinking that their role is to come up with solutions to big issues, Bellegy told Devex. It’s no longer about single solutions or plugging gaps left by governments and markets, Bellegy explained. Rather, it’s about acknowledging that the systems we rely on are potentially broken and that “we really need to think about the entire model, including the economic models, which are, of course, having consequences on everything including environmental issues, social issues, geopolitical issues,” Bellegy said. Polycrisis philanthropy also requires funders to have clarity about the values they want to drive their work and ensure those values are incorporated into everything they’re doing, he said. They must “walk the talk,” he said. “A lot of times, we see a disconnect between the mission and the programs that we may have and the kind of work that we say that we want to see and our operating models,” he said. Climate is an example of where philanthropy initially missed the mark on adopting a value-led approach because many donor organizations, while publicly supportive of climate efforts, held on to operation and investment models that were not climate-friendly, he said. Polycrisis work must be sustainable, equitable, and inclusive, WINGS said in a document outlining its own strategy. That means donor organizations should support activists, entrepreneurs, and others on the front lines of a crisis, and relinquish control so that the donor is part of a collective rather than leading, the group said. How can polycrisis philanthropy work at various levels? Donors should keep in mind that while they are addressing global crises, their efforts will largely take place at a local and regional level, Bellegy said. And that makes sense for most of the foundations around the world, which tend to be small and limited in resources, he said. Focusing on specific communities impacted by crises also can keep funders from feeling overwhelmed by the scope of the polycrisis, he said. There can be a sense of despair when philanthropists see multiple events happening at once, such as the Israel-Hamas war, the Russia-Ukraine war, and a series of other conflicts and natural disasters worldwide, Bellegy said. What can be most helpful for them is identifying how they can do the best work at their level of reach and accepting that even if they have a large foundation, they cannot resolve every issue by themselves, he said. “By doing something locally we can contribute to something much bigger,” Bellegy said. Donor collaboratives and other such networks also are avenues for philanthropists to increase their impact during a polycrisis, he added. Donor collaboratives are organizations, usually with their own staff, that allow philanthropists to pool funding with the aim of tackling large systemic challenges such as poverty reduction.