We live in a changing world, one marked by a cascade of seemingly intractable challenges – and ever-increasing new challenges coming in different forms.

From climate change to economic inequality to the threat of global pandemics, the problems we face today are more systemic and interconnected. They are less amenable to direct intervention or responses from a single group or agency. Instead, they require solutions that take into account a multi-dimensional and intersectional set of actors and variables. In addition, there is growing recognition that solutions to contemporary challenges should be rooted in values such as justice and equity.

In short, new types of challenges require new types of solutions.

This is a necessity that the philanthropic sector in particular has been increasingly reckoning with, as it seeks to modernize and update its approach to grantmaking and its broader efforts to bring about social transformation.