Imagine the world 30 years from now. What will it look like? Will humanity have acted on the climate crisis? Will we have resolved resource scarcity and addressed rising inequalities? Will the world be more democratic or authoritarian? Will young people be better off than their parents in the year 2053? What legacy will we leave to future generations?
“No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be”, said the science fiction writer Isaac Asimov. The future is no longer substance for science fiction, but a powerful lens through which to make better decisions today. By unlocking our imagination, we can collectively build futures literacy to support long-term thinking and transformative change – for philanthropy, for civil society, for Europe.
What if philanthropy committed to act for future generations and built broader coalitions with governments, business and academia to achieve well-being, sustainable use of resources and intergenerational fairness? How can we ensure that our knowledge and skills are fit for purpose in the 21st century? How could we overcome poverty-of-the-imagination and enhance our ability to anticipate emerging and future needs that can be addressed today? What if futures thinking became an indispensable part of philanthropy’s toolkit? And how would this empower philanthropy and civil society to respond more efficiently and effectively to the crises of today and tomorrow?
We invite you to join us for a special edition of “What if? Reimagining Philanthropy”, where we will take a closer look at how philanthropy can think about tomorrow today, focusing on discovery, innovation and long-term planning. Building on thought-provoking conversations with the community within this series of events and beyond, this edition will mark the launch of Philea’s brand new Futures Philanthropy initiative aimed at building and sharing futures literacy in philanthropy.
If you have any questions regarding this event, please contact Alina Shenfeldt at alina.shenfeldt@philea.eu