What is the New Philanthropy?

New Philanthropy, like old-fashioned Charity, is about helping people in need.  But New Philanthropy tackles this is a whole new way.  If Charity is about giving goods and services to fill shortfalls, New Philanthropy is about providing key funding for innovations that help people build their own lives.  As Bill Drayton, of the legendary Ashoka organization says, it's about "finding the Andrew Carnegies and Steve Jobs of the social arena" and supporting them.  The goal is social change that not only doesn't require a continuous infusion of donor funds, but that can also "go to scale"--spread, stick, move entire societies forward.

We at NPA think that the best solutions are found by an the emerging breed of innovator, the Social Entrepreneur, who refuses to leave society's needs to sluggish bureaucracies.  Social Entrepreneurs tackle a problem from the ground up.  They develop solutions based on innovation and markets rather than on a well-intended utopian plan conceived in an office tower far from the everyday reality of people in need.  They operate from within a community (and are often from the community itself) to find out what isn't working, then solve the problem by tinkering, innovating, ultimately changing the system itself.  

For examples of Social Entrepreneurs in action, look at our "Fascinating Reading" section and click on "Ashoka."  You'll find over 1,500 innovators who have changed their world.  Among them is Muhammad Yunus, winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize.  His  idea-- to offer tiny loans to the poor to enable them to start up small enterprises-- has improved the lives of 6.6 million people and has spread around the world under the name of microfinance.  

And Yunus is just one, a wonderfully successful one, of many.  Take a look.