056. Philanthropy that’s less colonial in mindset and practices: John Hecklinger @ Global Fund for Children

Summary

What’s problematic about philanthropy in the ways the sector has practiced it for many decades?

Are there limits to trust-based philanthropy?

How do boards of grant-making philanthropies such as the Global Fund for Children have to change their composition, mindset, and oversight practices to lessen a compliance and upward accountability lens and to make themselves more responsive to actual needs?

In this NGO Soul+Strategy podcast episode, I interview John Hecklinger, President and CEO at Global Fund for Children, on how we can practice philanthropy that’s less colonial in mindset and practices.

John’s Bio:

• President and CEO, Global Fund for Children (GFC)
• Co-Chair, Alliance for International Youth Development
• Chief Program Officer, Global Giving
• Business development director, Global Giving
• Director of Data Acquisition in the private sector
• Peacecorp volunteer (US volunteering program)

We discuss: 

• Global Fund for Children acts as an intermediary in on-granting philanthropic resources from family and corporate foundations to child and youth-focused, local civil society organizations. It also facilitates peer cohort capacity strengthening among grantee partners
• What John learned from working at Global Giving in terms of its innovative role in introducing crowdfunding to the nonprofit and citizen-giving sector  
• The risks when well-intentioned philanthropic organizations reinforce a mindset of compliance and upward accountability
• GFC stimulates homegrown philanthropy because communities have assets that can be leveraged 
• How GFC’s board had to evolve in composition, mindset and practices  composition to be liberated from simply approving ‘pre-baked’ dockets of prepared projects and to move to an approach that allowed GFC to become more flexible and responsive to needs
• What does the future of philanthropy look like, beyond grantmaking, when on-granting organizations such as GFC have taken themselves out of the picture?

Quotes:

“Everyone was getting smarter together once the board composition became more representative of the grantee partners it worked with”

Resources:

John’s LinkedIn Profile

Global Fund for Children (GFC) Website

GFC’s blogs

Podcast episode #22, NGO Soul + Strategy, with Dorothy Nyambi of MEDA

Benchmarking study on Shifting Power among 17 CSOs (International Civil Society Centre)

Youtube video of this podcast

Click here to subscribe to be alerted when new podcast episodes come out or when Tosca produces other thought leadership pieces.

Or email Tosca at tosca@5oaksconsulting.org if you want to talk about your social sector organization’s needs, challenges, and opportunities.

You can find Tosca’s content by following her on her social media channels: 

Twitter LinkedIn Facebook