Fluxx | Philanthropy and nonprofit technology news.

The Human Genome Project was an international scientific research project working to determine the base pairs that make up human DNA in order to sequence all of the human genome. And no, Untapped Philanthropy hasn’t suddenly pivoted from discussions on philanthropy to science. But we thought it might be helpful to remind you of the famous Human Genome Project because this week’s philanthropy guest is taking a similarly scientific approach to philanthropy.

The Impact Genome Project has taken a similar approach to philanthropy by analyzing the DNA of impact programs to determine what is and isn't working.

This week we are thrilled to have the Executive Director of the Center of Impact Sciences at the University of Chicago and the co-founder of the Impact Genome Project, Jason Saul on the podcast to tell us about his work, and most importantly — share more about the Project’s integration with Fluxx!

More than a decade into helping philanthropic organizations improve their operations, build mutually beneficial relationships with grantees, drive social impact, we, at Fluxx, recognize that we are a part of an ecosystem of communities and technologies.

As such we strive to support and honor initiatives that further the collective endeavors to connect efforts, amplify outcomes, and forge new ways of collaborating.

To collaborate effectively, we have to create common denominators across our programs, organizations, and industry --- Impact Genome is the most interesting example of how this can happen for impact tracking.

We listened to the building groundswell of interest from our customer to tie into these efforts. Today we are honored to announce a new partnership between Fluxx the team at Mission Measurement and Impact Genome.

The Trust-Based Philanthropy Project is a five-year peer-to-peer funder initiative designed to address the inherent power imbalances between foundations and nonprofits. It’s an initiative built around action and immediacy. A quick perusal of the team’s website will immediately bring you to the six practices of trust-based grantmaking which the team hopes will not only break down the buzz-y term of trust-based philanthropy into actionable steps, but also encourage funders to make immediate equitable changes.

The work of the Trust-Based Philanthropy Project is aligned with our work and mission here at Fluxx. We believe that it’s not only possible — but also essential — for technologists to partner with philanthropists in order to build pathways to deeper and more trusting partnerships between funders and grantees.

That’s why we are especially thrilled to share more about this week’s Untapped Philanthropy podcast featuring a conversation between Fluxx co-founder, Kerrin Mitchell, and Executive Director, Trust-Based Philanthropy Project, Shaady Salehi.

Imagine a world in which the toughest multi-decade long problems; whether it's racial injustice, poverty, or the preservation of democracy, were resourced in the same manner as a legacy institution. It’s a radical idea that would rely on what many would consider a “stodgy” grantmaking practice. We’re talking about endowments.

Untapped Philanthropy Season 2, Episode 3: Which nonprofits would benefit from endowments?

“You think about endowments as something that happens for the biggest established organizations like universities, art museums, or medical research,” said this week’s Untapped Philanthropy guest, The Bridgespan Group's Managing Partner William Foster. “But it's radical because there is nothing more clean and complete in the trust-based philanthropy world than creating endowments, right? It's the ultimate shift. Dollars and assets are power.”

It’s not often that you hear cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, or Ethereum uttered in the same sentence as philanthropy. Most nonprofits (and funders for that matter) aren’t equipped to accept or distribute a crypto donation. And let’s be honest, the philanthropic sector isn’t known for its early tech adopters, and certainly not crypto geeks.

Mentioning DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) and technology in the same sentence can go one of two ways:

“Well, turns out the recruiting software we used to hire at our multi-national nonprofit is showing signs of unconscious bias.”

Or…

“Our new grantmaking technology has allowed us to implement trust-based philanthropy and fairly distribute funds out to the communities that need it most. We’re now able to prioritize more diverse needs and initiatives.”

One year and 12 episodes later, season one of Untapped Philanthropy is a wrap! And this week, our season finale of Untapped Philanthropy is extra special. CEO of Fluxx, Kristy Gannon, guest hosts and interviews Kerrin Mitchell about her time hosting season one of Untapped Philanthropy, and what she hopes to accomplish in the new year.

And as a bonus for our listeners, we shared a special Fluxx announcement at the end of the episode!

Untapped Season Finale, Episode 12: Special Guest Host and a Big Announcement!

SunTrust Bank and BB&T Corporation (one of the largest banking corporations in the United States) completed a massive merger to form Truist on Dec. 9, 2019. This merger brought with it the need to meld both philanthropic agendas of the two banks, and within the same month, the Truist Foundation was born. Then came the global COVID-19 pandemic.

“The financial inequities that faced historically excluded communities were laid bare by the pandemic. We knew that it was crucial for us as an institution to be part of the catalyst to help build that generational wealth and do the hard work of advancing an economy that better serves everyone,” said Lynette Bell, president of the Truist Foundation. “So as the philanthropic arm of a financial services institution, we recognized that it was our responsibility to take part in that difficult work – and we wanted to sharpen our grantmaking in that process.”

Despite being a worldwide trillion-dollar industry, philanthropy doesn't garner the same media coverage as say, the technology sector. But with so many new billionaires entering the funding space, and billionaires renewing their focus on environmental and societal causes, you’d think we’d be seeing more mass media news coverage. So where are the hard-hitting, deep-dive industry articles and why might they be difficult to come by outside of trusted philanthropy trade publications?

Enter Teddy Schleifer, Founding Partner of the new media company, Puck. Prior to Puck, Teddy covered money, influence, and billionaire philanthropy for Recode, which is owned by Vox. At Recode Teddy delved into crypto giving, Elon Musk’s charity sending sprees, Jeff Bezos philanthropic, and everything in between. But more importantly, his coverage isn’t just about the gifts, but the motive behind it, and the quiet power that drives one of the world’s largest economic powerhouses.

“The most useful and influential people… are those who take the deepest interest in institutions that exist for the purpose of making the world better.”
Booker T. Washington

It’s autumn. Change is in the air. Thus, no better time to announce the evolving nature of our own path here at Fluxx!

In Fluxx’s journey to innovate as a company and platform, our North Star must always be to support our community’s evolution in grantmaking practices, paving the (technology) path to bring scale and visibility to their impact. We see a world where funders and grantees build collectives, collaborating in real time over an open structure of knowledge. To make this a reality, it has been - and always will be - critical to partner with people and organizations of like mind in both our mission and values.

We are therefore excited to make an investment announcement, in line with exactly those objectives: Fluxx has been acquired by private equity investor Metamorph Partners.