Philanthropy is a field of leaders, but Monitor Institute is focusing elsewhere with their Smart Money Award, a bi-monthly recognition of philanthropy’s most important acts of “followership”.
Instead of recognizing those who go where no one has gone before, the award celebrates those who follow in the footsteps of others. It honors acts like Warren’s Buffet’s 2006 gift of more than $31 billion to the Gates Foundation and Buffet’s recognition that “there was a terrific foundation that was already scaled-up…that would and that could productively use my money now. “
Most recently, the Smart Money Award went to The McKnight Foundation, an MCF member, for followership represented by its $100 million commitment to three re-granting institutions leading the effort against climate change: ClimateWorks, the Energy Foundation, and RE-AMP. Given the issue’s urgency and parters who were already doing work they trusted, McKnight’s Board decided it would be most effective to forego acting alone and instead join the ongoing efforts of others.
McKnight’s vice president of program Neal Cuthbert explains, “We have a long history of working with established intermediaries to try to put decisions in the hands of the people closest to the work. We often find that the best thing we can do is to support smart people who know what they’re doing and get out of the way.”
The award was born at a March 2010 gathering on the next 10 years of philanthropy where participants discussed how philanthropy could adapt to a rapidly changing world. There, a small group facilitated by Monitor Institute consultants Gabriel Kasper and Edward Wexler-Beron, focused on followership. Specifically, they wanted to dispel the notion that leadership is about doing something first or by yourself. For more on the story of the award’s creation, check out Eugene Eric Kim’s blog post: The Story of Philanthropy’s Smart Money Award.
Kasper, the Monitor Institute consultant and co-author of the reports “What’s Next for Philanthropy – Acting Bigger and Adapting Better in a Networked World” and “Intentional Innovation: How Getting More Systematic about Innovation Could Improve Philanthropy and Increase Social Impact”, will share insights from Monitor’s work at MCF’s 2010 Annual Convening in October. To read more about Kasper’s plenary address, visit mcfconvening.org.
- Susan Stehling, MCF
