5 Philanthropy areas I would be excited to see a new organisation focused on

In light of both my career change and the Ambitious Impact incubation round focusing on philanthropy ideas, I have been considering the types of organisations that might help the philanthropy sector have a higher impact than it does right now.

Cause area-focused philanthropy networks/communities

One of the most consistent things I have heard from grantmakers and principals in particular is that philanthropy is lonely and their level of coordination with others in the space is low. Although there are many philanthropic communities, the majority are extremely broad, spanning multiple cause areas and even investment strategies. The number of times you get global health philanthropists talking to a climate impact investor is too common in these communities to build the stronger bonds that sub-communities have. Farmed Animal Funders are only for grantmakers focused on farmed animals; sometimes, a focused community of 100 is more valuable than a more unfocused community of 1,000. However, there are limited focused philanthropic communities (e.g., a global health funders community for folks donating between $100k-$10m a year).

Philanthropy skill training at satellite events

The focal point of a huge percentage of philanthropic conversions happens during events, conferences, and retreats. I think building on these events with satellite events and dessert events can be a source of huge impact. I’d like to see more specific events that take a subcommunity of the larger event and focus on a more practical outcome (e.g., learning a grantmaking skill, coordinating on a new entity getting set up, etc.). I think in general, an organisation focused on these smaller gatherings executed well could have a lot of impact by sharing lessons learned. This could be an even stronger version of our Impactful Grantmaking training program. A lot of lessons could be gained froma single in-person day that I also expect would be well attended and would lead to more impact (e.g an in-person day on how to talk to your family about giving more after the Skoll World Forum).

Niche HNW advisories

I think there are lots of advisories that do a little bit of everything, but I think advisories focusing more specifically on sub-areas, particularly ones that are tricky, could be really impactful. For example, an advisory that focuses on charities that intersect both climate and animal issues, or one focusing on meta EA areas. Alternatively, an advisory that focuses on specific mechanisms for granmaking such as only looking at sub-$1m organisations, only evaluating philanthropic funds, or working with prizes and awards exclusively. I think specialisation can lead to much better recommendations than currently exist in the space.

Funds

Philanthropic funds are growing in interest across the movement (see more of my thoughts on this here), and yet there are relatively few systems, processes, and evaluations of them. I think there is room in terms of funds both for meta organisations that would exist to set up more of these, and also in the direct founding of specific thesis-driven philanthropic funds. This could include a family planning-focused fund or a fund that is aimed at high cost-effectiveness opportunities in the space, or a climate fund aiming at industrial pollutants R&D.

Gamified grantmaking

Right now, the most enjoyable ways to make grants and the most impactful ways are rarely the same thing. Sometimes this is inherent to the system, but often I think it is workable to align these much more closely. Something like a Shark Tank for grantmaking or deliberate social mixers between grantmakers and grantees can make impactful grantmaking as fun or even more so than classic grantmaking. I think there are lots of content creations that can be useful things like quizzes, flowcharts, and infographics are really rare in the philanthropy movement but seem very feasible to produce.

Apply to launch these ideas

I’ll be testing out some of these ideas over the next 6 months to recommend a list of the ~5 most promising to be launched via the 2026 Impactful Philanthropy incubation round. If you think you could be a good fit for one of the ideas, you can apply to the round here before October 5.