Learning from failure in philanthropy
Date and time
Location
Online event
This event, livestreamed from the AVPN conference in Bali, looks at how learning from failure can help foundations succeed in their goals.
About this event
‘If you haven’t failed, you’re not trying hard enough....’
It seems like a no-brainer. Learning from failure contributes to high-quality implementation, strategic innovation and improved governance and transparency. Yet despite the fact that all funders admit this, it is a principle that often doesn’t translate into practice. Many foundations, their staff and their boards still find it difficult to have conversations about failure.
There are some obvious reasons for this, perhaps above all the very human reluctance to admit mistakes. What’s more, failure is not always easy to identify and can be a matter of perspective. What seems like success to a funder may not be perceived as such by a beneficiary. Even where failure is acknowledged, there remains the question of what is done about it.
In this event, our panelists will answer the following questions:
- What has been the Asian experience of this?
- Which funders and social investors have engaged with these questions?
- How do they adapt their strategy and put resources behind learning to profit from mistakes?
- What kind of cultural changes are necessary for them to become genuine learning organisations?
- What are some of the examples of best practice in learning from failures and how can these be adapted by other organisations?
Confirmed panelists include:
- Akhil Shahani, Managing Director, The Shahani Group
- Jennifer Chen, CEO, The Chen-Yet Sen Family Foundation
- Stefan Schaefers, Executive Director, King Baudouin Foundation
- Sumit Joshi, Global Director, Lorinet Foundation
- Andrew Milner, Features Editor, Alliance Magazine