50 Shades of Green
As those that work in private practice for pubic good, it is imperative that we continuously and closely scrutinise our work. Our philosophy remains the same, but new funders, partners, ideas and experiences contribute to our knowledge pool and influence where we go next - and how. We adapt our methods accordingly, weaving in best practices and weeding out roadblocks. Just as our views on systemic shifts are centred in a conviction for evolution, not revolution, we believe positive, lasting organisational change is best achieved gradually and incrementally.
However, it is also vital to take stock of long-term progress. In 2019, we took a deep dive into the previous decade of the now closed Shuttleworth Foundation fellowship model, revisiting highs - and lows - and speaking to fellows about their experiences. We intended to uncover wrong turns and to explore areas where we could improve. There was plenty to chew on but, overall, we were pleasantly surprised: discussions with the community of past and present fellows revealed our alternative model of philanthropy holds up well.
We started this experimental model in 2007 with the belief that philanthropy could be better. Our idea was to instil openness, collaboration and community into our approach. We wanted to replace the hierarchical structures typically seen in traditional funding with a focus on co-ownership, agency and empowerment. There have been some tweaks around the edges since but, today, we believe those fundamental elements continue to offer our fellows greater agency to make progress and unlock more benefit for society.
Which brings us to our book. In one part, it tells our story as a community and offers hat tips to those who have contributed along the way. We don’t like to talk about success or failure and prefer to focus our thoughts on progress and learning. But on reflection, it is striking how much our fellows move their fields forward.
Consider our funding efforts in telecommunications, where we see a trend towards bottom-up connectivity and community-owned networks. Our fellows have played a significant role in this blossoming movement. Individual projects by Steve Song, Paul Gardner-Stephen, Peter Bloom and Luka Mustafa have built on each other to great effect to democratise access and empower communities, reduce costs, and shift thinking at policy level. Elsewhere, in a world dominated by global finance, Astra Taylor’s work with The Debt Collective community poses important questions about money and debt: her efforts so far helped eliminate over a billion dollars of student debt owed to predatory lenders.
These impressive examples of fellowship projects impact millions of people - even more extraordinary when you consider they were achieved on a relatively meagre budget of around a million dollars per fellow, over a three-year fellowship. In our view, it is clear this demonstrates that size of grant - often the central component of the funder-fundee relationship - is not a lone indicator of success. There is far more to consider, which is the second source of inspiration for our book.
We seek system change in our domain just as our fellows seek change in theirs. Several major funders have borrowed from our ideas, as we have borrowed from others - just as it should be. Yet our community’s frustrations with the traditional philanthropic world remain. Changemakers with vast potential are still overwhelmingly restricted by top-down approaches to funding, arbitrary metrics, short-termism, and more. If we want to live in a better, more equitable world, this must be addressed.
We aim to do this in our book and add some practical flesh to the philosophical bones of Open philanthropy to better explain the hows and whys of our working methods. It is not a how-to guide or instruction manual - our processes fit our intent and purpose, and we know they may not work for others. Instead, we hope it provides inspiration and shows the strength of openness as a foundation from which to build viable alternatives to unhelpful funding practices. We hope it makes you think. But mostly, that you enjoy it…
In March 2019, Karien Bezuidenhout, Sean Bonner, Kathi Fletcher, Jason Hudson, Adam Hyde, Chris McGivern, Helen King-Turvey and Jesse von Doom spent a week locked away in a tumble-down sixteenth century farmhouse at the edge of the Surrey Hills called Ridge Farm: a former residential recording studio famed for hosting Oasis, Pearl Jam, Queen, Ozzy Ozbourne, The Smiths, Echo & The Bunnymen, Goldie and countless others.
The group had come together to think about the future of philanthropy, the power of Open, and how these combined can change the world. This book – which explores and documents the philosophy, motivation and learning behind the Shuttleworth Foundation and its fellowship community – is the result.
Barbara Rühling facilitated the Book Sprint, and Fenella Smith cooked delicious food, which kept us going. Matt Reasons organised the travel that brought us all together and delivered us home safely. Cover design by Sean Bonner and copy editing by Raewyn Whyte and Helen Kilbey. Previous works by Andrew Rens and Arthur Attwell have also been included. All photos were taken by Sean Bonner and Jason Hudson. This book is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike licence.
