Opinion: Philanthropy Stock Markets Will Be Common in the Next 25 Years

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Compiled by Noelle Barton, Caroline Bermudez, Maria Di Mento, Candie Jones, Heather Joslyn, and Cassie Moore.

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March 03, 2008

Opinion: Philanthropy Stock Markets Will Be Common in the Next 25 Years

Twenty-five years from now, grant makers will seek out grantees — rather than the other way around — and base their decisions on extensive information that is widely shared, predicts Sean Stannard-Stockton, a principal and director of tactical philanthropy at Ensemble Capital Management, in a Financial Times column.

Grant makers will exchange information through social stock exchanges that resemble the financial markets, he writes. Looking back from the perspective of the year 2033, he says, “As funders became comfortable with the idea that sharing information with other donors provided greater social impact, a sense of community and camaraderie developed that set the social exchanges apart from the traditional financial markets.”

He also predicts that most Americans, even those with moderate means, will open donor-advised funds — in 2033, they will be available through bank accounts linked to checking accounts.

Comments

Should Mr. Stannard-Stockton’s prediction become true, with the growing digital divide between big budget and smaller non-profits, we can be sure social change organizations and emergent innovative service organizations will benefit the least. What a loss for society.

— R. White Mar 3, 04:14 PM #
Within the subculture of religious philanthropy, this kind of ‘social stock exchange’ is already a vibrant mechanism for grant making. That it would broaden to encompass philanthropic activity elsewhere is a positive move forward.

— Casey Mar 3, 04:29 PM #
Of course a number of websites (Donorschoose, GlobalGiving, ModestNeeds, Net4Kids, etc.) already function in ways similar to the nonprofit stock markets Mr. Stannard-Stockton describes. What’s most interesting is that the majority of these focus on “projects:” discrete needs that are much smaller than a nonprofit organization. It’s possible that this phenomenon could marginalize some well-established organizations as much as it further empowers others.

— Clam Mar 3, 09:50 PM #

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