Even amid two international conflicts and an upcoming U.S. presidential election, some philanthropic leaders are optimistic about the direction of overall giving through 2024.
Penta spoke with heads of several non-profits and leading philanthropists to gauge whether charitable giving will continue its reported slump from 2023 or rebound alongside renewed interest in various political and economic issues.
“Contrary to what some might expect, philanthropy has had resilience in these times,” says Stacy Huston, executive director of Sixdegrees.org, a youth empowerment non-profit based in Virginia founded by actor Kevin Bacon in 2007.
Huston’s view echoes recent data from the biennial Bank of America Study of Philanthropy published last year, which found that while affluent giving is largely down, the value of the average philanthropic gift is up 19%, surpassing pre-pandemic levels.
The notion of what these gifts look like is changing, and is partially responsible for the growth. Philanthropy can be executed through more avenues than ever, whether through celebrity association, tech titans stewarding large endowments, or athletes using their platforms to advocate for and create meaningful change.
“The industry and movement is creating new models, and you want to get it right,” says Scott Curran, CEO of Chicago-based Beyond Advisers. “No one should take their foot off the gas pedal.”
Curran spent a number of years with the Clinton Foundation in its infancy before leaving in 2016 to open his own consultancy, which focuses on philanthropy strategy at the highest levels. Curran and his team work with celebrities, athletes, multi-generational family foundations, and other affluent givers who need guidance in directing their philanthropic efforts. It’s a growing area of interest: Over half of affluent households with a net worth between US$5 million and US$20 million have, or are planning to establish, “some kind of giving vehicle” within the next three years, according to the Bank of America report.
Corporate philanthropy, rather than individual giving, is the cornerstone of Marcus Selig’s work as chief conservation officer at the National Forest Foundation, a Congressionally chartered non-profit based in Montana responsible for protecting millions of acres of public lands.
“Our outlook is business as usual,” he says, advising that giving may slow down, but not enough for the foundation to change course.
Factors such as political polarisation in the U.S. and the wars in Eastern Europe and the Middle East are pushing nonprofits to consider their niche, and how they might work with other groups, both on the corporate and philanthropic levels, Selig says.
“It leads to a little more sharing on the ground in what needs to be done,” he adds.
Steve Kaufer , founder of Massachusetts-headquartered e-commerce giving platform Give Freely and founder of TripAdvisor, says that the economy has a much bigger role in election years, as he looks to build and grow something that can act as a “counterbalance.”
“There’s a trend towards democratisation, and acting collectively can lead to greater impact,” he says.
Kaufer’s new platform hopes to leverage the everyday philanthropist through online shopping dollars to benefit major charity partners like UNICEF and charity:water, who earn funds as shoppers choose an organisation to benefit through an online clickthrough process.
“Whether a good year or bad year, e-commerce will continue to keep growing,” he says. “Nobody doubts that.”
Whether a legacy foundation, corporation or individual, the political landscape this year is requiring some to exercise caution as they consider what their own charitable actions might be and how it could be viewed more broadly. For the personal philanthropist, every move is now scrutinised more closely. On the nonprofit side, entities are exercising more due diligence to understand if a specific donor aligns with their mission and that there aren’t any underlying issues that could cause greater pushback.
“You have to be able to walk the walk,” Huston says. “For example, we’ve had to turn down very large donor checks from corporations because there’s a Reddit stream calling them out on their human rights practices.”
She adds that even a routine charity activation could now be aligned with a political party, and that adds complexities to how a higher-profile organisation like Six Degrees can activate, especially as the film Footloose turns 40 in 2024 (which Bacon starred in).
“A lot of organisations and states want to align themselves with this feel good moment, and we should be able to stand side by side with everyone, but we have to be aware,” she says.
Another topic attracting donor interest today is mental health, an area that historically has been underfunded and under-resourced by philanthropy, according to Two Bridge partner Harris Schwartzberg, who has been closely linked to the mental health space for more than a decade.
Today, the issue for mental health nonprofits is less about resources and more about societal divisiveness and polarisation around the topic. There’s an “overwhelming demand” for solutions, but the space is in a “perfect storm” for the broader political issues to make things worse, Schwartzberg says.
In Curran’s opinion, the storms brewing are troublesome, but they are also creating new opportunities for corporate and personal giving. The current state of philanthropy is one of “dynamic, expansive, and blurred lines,” meaning a careful blending of targeted giving combined with an understanding of the broader geopolitical landscape could lead to a successful overall philanthropic strategy.
“There are a lot of headlines that distract, but shouldn’t,” he says. “2024 needs more serious philanthropists than ever.”
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The budget is being framed ahead of a federal election expected to be held in early 2025
SYDNEY—Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers will deliver the government’s 2024-2025 federal budget next Tuesday amid concerns that strong revenue growth will tempt him toward a jump in spending, stoking the case for higher interest rates.
Economists expect Chalmers to announce a budget surplus for 2023-2024, supported in part by high commodity prices and strength in the job market, with unemployment continuing to hover near its lowest level in half a century.
The question on the lips of the governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, Michele Bullock , will be how much of that revenue will flow back into the economy by things like added measures aimed at easing a cost-of-living surge for consumers.
Bullock told reporters Tuesday that the RBA’s board had considered a further rise in interest rates, sending a shot across the bow of the center-left Labor government ahead of the budget.
The budget is being framed ahead of a federal election expected to be held in early 2025.
The public acknowledgment of the RBA board’s discussion of what would be a 14th interest-rate rise in two years signaled that the central bank has grown more concerned about the inflation outlook after first-quarter data came in above its own expectations.
Economists have warned that the RBA isn’t even close to a decision to cut interest rates, and the more likely outcome at the moment is that the central bank will need to tighten the policy screws further before the end of this year.
“The challenge fiscal policymakers face is that although they are flush with revenue, a cautious approach ought to be taken to additional spending because the economy is still operating at full employment, and inflation is still too high,” said Paul Bloxham, chief economist at HSBC Australia.
“Loosening fiscal policy settings at this point could mean that monetary policy would need to be tightened further yet—or that rates need to be higher for longer,” he added.
The RBA is conscious of the fact that significant income tax cuts will be delivered midyear and that they target low- and middle-income earners, who are more likely to spend added income than save it.
The government has already signalled its plans to spend in the area of subsidies for local manufacturing, including for the production of solar panels.
In addition, the budget will focus on business tax incentives, increased defence spending, funding for domestic violence support, changes to student debt policy and infrastructure.
Chalmers has played down the risk over the budget stoking the flames of inflation.
“It will be a responsible budget, a restrained budget, and it will maintain our focus on that inflation fight,” he said Thursday in a radio interview.
“There will be help for people with the cost of living, but we’ll make sure that that cost-of-living help is part of the solution and not part of the problem when it comes to inflation,” he added.
A risk that the RBA will also be alert to is the probability that the government will hold back some of its revenue gains to support added spending closer to the election.
Josh Williamson , chief economist at Citi Australia, said Chalmers will likely push new spending into the future to avoid overheating the economy now.
“The government does not want to be seen promoting policies that add to the risk of further policy tightening,” he said.
This suggests that new spending will be pushed into the government’s forward budgetary projections, while measures that directly reduce inflation could be announced virtually immediately, Williamson added.
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