How Philanthropy Can Turn Dark Realities Into Hope

Errata Carmona for The Chronicle

In February 2001, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund offered me the opportunity to lead the foundation into a new century. Just a few months later, the future of that new century was irreversibly recast.

On a beautiful September morning, I was sitting on the tarmac at JFK when armed policemen boarded the plane and ordered us to evacuate. In the terminal, everyone was glued to CNN, horrified by the use of passenger airplanes as weapons of mass destruction and the murder of nearly 3,000 people at the World Trade Center. My only thought at that moment was to get home to my wife and infant son. On a day of such unimaginable evil, I sought solace in the company of newborn innocence. But the bridges and tunnels were closed. The subway wasn’t running. So I walked.

The next day I went to work. I didn’t know what else to do. From my office, I had a view of where the Twin Towers had stood the day before. It was clear to me that philanthropy had a unique set of responsibilities at that moment of crisis, but as I sat and watched the smoke rising from the site, I struggled to collect my thoughts about how we should respond.

One thing was clear: In the span of an hour, the promise of a new century had given way to a new “Age of Anxiety,” to borrow W.H. Auden’s apt phrase.

Fundamental Crisis

I never would have imagined that 17 years later, the anxiety of our age would have grown so much more intense. Like the hurricanes that battered the East Coast this fall, the winds of social, political, and economic upheaval become more turbulent and disorienting with each passing day.

In the United States, our politics are more divided than at any other time since Reconstruction. The midterm elections confirm that hyperpartisanship and profound distrust are likely to remain hallmarks of our politics for years. Racial tensions are acute. Hate speech and hate crimes are on the rise. Economic disparity continues to grow, with 10 percent of Americans now controlling 75 percent of the nation’s wealth.

Around the globe, pervasive anxiety plays into the hands of autocrats and demagogues who stoke fear to achieve, wield, and consolidate power. Conflicts rage in Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, and elsewhere around the world, causing humanitarian crises that have displaced millions and created a steady flow of refugees. The system of international cooperation created after the Second World War is under assault, and once again great power competition and the threat of conflict shape geopolitics.

But surging temperatures, melting icecaps, and rising seas may soon leave little to fight over. Scientists warn that catastrophic consequences of global warming are now nearly unavoidable.

In their breadth and complexity, the individual challenges we face today add up to something greater than the sum of their parts. We are at the threshold of a fundamental, even civilizational, crisis.

‘Yesterday’s Logic’

The crisis stems from the growing obsolescence of three core operating systems that have shaped Western civilization for 300 years. The first is capitalism, fueled by carbon and driven by global financialization. The second is the nation state, which gained its modern form in the 19th century. And the third is representative democracy, a system of self-rule based on Enlightenment ideals of reason, freedom, fairness, justice, and equality. Working in harmony, they have delivered tremendous progress toward reducing poverty, improving human health, and managing international relations.

But today these systems are showing signs of profound anachronism. Our practice of capitalism is putting the planetary ecosystem at risk and generating vast economic inequality. The nation state, while still an essential locus of governance, is inadequate for managing transnational challenges like global warming or mass migration. And, increasingly, representative democracy across the globe is neither truly representative nor very democratic.

Citizens feel that their voices are no longer heard — that influencing public policy has become the prerogative of corporations, special-interest groups, and the wealthy. Willful distortion of truth and the proliferation of misinformation are eroding faith in democracy. As Hannah Arendt observed, “If everyone always lies to you, the consequence is not that you believe the lies but that no one believes anything at all anymore.”

Steps to Find the Answers

For many, it may be tempting to look to the restoration of some past “golden age.” But as Peter Drucker wrote in 1980, “The greatest danger in turbulent times is not the turbulence; it is to act with yesterday’s logic.” The three core operating systems are the logic of the past. We must reinvent them for the conditions of the 21st century and shape a logic for the future. We must jettison anachronistic assumptions, reform obsolete organizational structures, invent new institutions and systems, and promote a new global ethos of equity and inclusion that reflects both current realities and future needs.

Philanthropy certainly does not have all the answers we need. But together with our partners in civil society, we have much to contribute to the process of finding them. Here are the key steps foundations can take:

Invest in ideas. Ideas matter. We are living in a time of conceptual deficits in economics, politics, international relations, and human ethics. Philanthropy can support bold new thinking regarding democratic systems of governance, political economy, and global problem solving. We can sponsor experimentation and remain patient in the face of short-term failure.

Elevate new leaders. We can invest in bold and creative talent drawn from the rich diversity of humanity and tap the energy and ingenuity of rising millennials and Generation Z. Leadership development, networking, and the creation of new platforms for collaboration can spur innovation and amplify the power of ideas.

Strengthen new social movements. We can reinforce the role of civil society as the sector where individuals self-organize to support each other, assert collective power, and advance the common good. From community associations to mass movements, civil society will be the transformative force of this century.

Amplify fact-based, independent journalism. We must also advance limits on the manipulation of digital technologies to spread falsehood, division, and hate. Access to credible information and clear boundaries between fact and opinion are essential to an empowered democratic citizenry.

Redefine our relations with both business and government. Philanthropy must play a leadership role as the relationship among corporations, federal and state officials, and nonprofits evolve. Each must contribute its unique resources and capabilities to meeting the challenges we face. Philanthropy that influences public policy or corporate behavior through research, policy development, and advocacy can magnify the impact of modest philanthropic resources.

Strict Ethical Standards

If we are to contribute to the logic of the future, philanthropy, too, must move beyond business as usual. We must use all of our assets — not just our grants budgets but our investment portfolios, intellectual resources, convening capacity, leadership, reputations, and independence.

Our boards and staff must reflect the diversity of today’s society. We must uphold the highest ethical standards, embrace transparency, and hold ourselves — and one another — accountable for doing so. We must be bold in our ambitions but humble in our approach. And we must be resolute in our defense of tolerance, truth, openness, justice, and love.

As chief operating officer of the EastWest Institute, I moved to Prague in 1990, just after the authoritarian governments of the Soviet Empire were overthrown by citizens who took peacefully to the streets in pursuit of a better future. Václav Havel, the Czech dissident playwright, led his country to freedom in the “Velvet Revolution.”

In a 1998 essay, Havel wrote, “Humankind today is well aware of the spectrum of threats looming over its head. ... And yet ... we do almost nothing to avert these dangers. ... What could change the direction of civilization?”

The question is not rhetorical. The answer is not a miracle. Havel, of all people, knew that civilizational change is possible. He knew it because he had seen it happen; he had helped to make it happen. What could change the direction of civilization, Havel understood, was the human spirit.

It is my hope that philanthropy will become a powerful force for the kind of profound civilizational change that Havel had in mind. Despite the dark realities of the moment, I still fervently believe in the promise of a century whose future has yet to be written. But to quote James Baldwin, “There is never a time in the future in which we will work out our salvation. The challenge is in the moment; the time is always now.”

Stephen Heintz is president of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. This article is adapted from a speech he gave when he received an award for distinguished service from the Council on Foundations.