Webinar: Building an Impact Economy: The Role of Philanthropy

In July 2018, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors and Impact Entrepreneur Center brought together four dozen individuals from three continents for a summit in Massachusetts. Leaders in systems thinking, philanthropy, impact investing and ‘new economy’ models, these individuals share an interest in creating economic, financial and investment systems that serve people and planet, not the other way around. The organizers created the short-hand term ‘impact economy’ to represent this objective.

To date, efforts to create an impact economy have been piecemeal. Many organizations today are helping to solve seemingly intractable problems and demonstrating the possibility of moving beyond incremental change to real transformation. But their success rests on their ability to shift the complex systems in which those problems exist – and that is influenced by many factors, not least how they are funded, that add up to a meaningful transition to a new status quo. To that end, philanthropy and impact investing could do more to build this impact economy and create sustained support for social transformation from the bottom up. Currently too few funders support the infrastructure required to scale the growth of alternatives to the mainstream.

Following two days of discussions at the convening mentioned above, a call to action was proposed towards philanthropic organizations – first to use their capital in a way that more directly supports the development of an impact economy; and, second, to align their investments and actions overall with the underlying values inherent in an impact economy. The result was a roadmap to guide philanthropy’s role towards an impact economy.

In this live webinar and Q&A, the Summit co-conveners will summarize the key points of this call to action and discuss with a panel of senior philanthropic professionals the role of philanthropy in building an impact economy.

Location: Virtual

Date: Thursday, February 14, 2019