Foresight Philanthropy

SCG’s 2019 Annual Conference, Foresight Philanthropy, is the gateway for funders to sharpen your grantmaking strategies, invigorate cross-sector collaborations, and get ready to be more dynamic changemakers by using the tools of futurism.

In the early 20th century, futurists were inspired by speed, technology, and modernity to create an avant-garde art movement. More recently, the private sector has been using foresight to analyze trends and recognize patterns to determine what is possible, preferable, and probable in the future.

Why futurism? Because shifting demographics and cutting-edge technologies are changing the world we live in faster than ever. Nonprofits and social movements are already adjusting the ways in which they are working to meet new challenges and opportunities from artificial intelligence to climate change.

Now, it’s our turn. How can philanthropy prepare and adapt to the coming societal and environmental transformations? How can we anticipate and act on what our particular communities will need? How do we pave future-focused pathways that are equitably accessible to all people, especially those with marginalized identities? In doing so, how can we learn from our history in order to do better and avoid the mistakes of the past?

This is a time of great urgency and tremendous possibility. We have the opportunity to adopt the tools of futurism to move our grantmaking practices and cross-sector collaboration strategies forward into a dramatically different tomorrow.

Join over 600 colleagues for a day filled with interactive plenaries, inspiring keynote speakers, and skill-building workshops designed to propel us into Foresight Philanthropy.