Key Assumptions

This strategic plan is based on a series of core assumptions about philanthropy and social change, each of which has implications for the Foundation Center.

Assumption		Implication for the Foundation Center (FC)
Organized philanthropy (foundations) will continue to grow in the U.S. in terms of assets and giving.	»	Main FC databases covering foundations and their grants will need to expand significantly.
U.S. philanthropy will become an increasingly segmented industry with a relatively small (but growing) number of richly-endowed, well-staffed, and sophisticated foundations; a growing number with global ambitions; and a very large number of much smaller foundations, some with little or no staff at all, whose giving is primarily local.	»	FC will need to develop a broader range of services to meet the needs of the full spectrum of foundations while giving nonprofits the knowledge they need to gain support from an ever-growing universe of foundations.
Outside the U.S., philanthropy will continue to grow at a rapid pace, particularly in those countries and regions taking on greater importance in the global economy.	»	FC will need to build global alliances and partnerships with individual foundations and national and regional associations to gain access to greater quantities of data on the work of foundations around the world.
As philanthropy and the fortunes that fuel it grow, governments, the media, and online communities will demand to know more about philanthropy and philanthropists.	»	FC will need to help foundations find the tools they need to meet the challenge of transparency in the digital age.
The tool kit of organized philanthropy will increasingly be a continuum ranging from grants at one end to market-rate, mission-related investments at the other, with a broader array of operating programs and direct charitable activities in between.	»	FC will need to expand its data architecture and research efforts to cover as many of these forms of philanthropy as possible.
New forms of social investment will continue to evolve such that foundations will share the landscape with online giving/volunteering platforms, for-profit social enterprises, and new forms that we have yet to see.	»	FC will need to collect and/or gain access to data on social investment beyond grants and grantmakers.
Organizations seeking funding will need to employ a wider variety of strategies including nonprofit restructuring and collaboration, multi-sector partnerships, social enterprise financing, and increased orientation towards bottom line results and “social impact."	»	FC will need to expand its online data resources, research, and educational programs to connect those in the social sector to a wider array of resources.
Philanthropy will be increasingly data- and knowledge-driven as donors strive for more impact on a larger scale, and finding the right information quickly will be paramount.	»	FC will need to expand its efforts to make sure its data is readily available, as current as possible, and seen and used by donors.
Working at scale will require collaboration with other foundations, government, the private sector, and nonprofits—often across the globe.	»	FC will need to develop more and more platforms and tools that put a broad mix of information—including data on global philanthropy—at people’s fingertips, thereby lowering the transaction cost of collaboration.
Philanthropy and social investment will expand in such a way that no one organization can cover all its needs and possibilities.	»	Through collaboration, acquisition, and “coopetition” the FC will meet the data and knowledge needs of the sector.
Radical changes in the information industry will continue to challenge business models and traditional roles of producers and consumers of information.	»	FC will need to find the right balance between open and free data, including user-generated content, and that for which a fee can be charged.
Technology will make it possible to do things tomorrow with data, its delivery, and its visualization that we can’t begin to imagine today.	»	FC will need to constantly renew its IT resources.