Introducing Moonshot Philanthropy
Moonshot philanthropy is an emerging approach where philanthropists deploy capital at scale to accelerate ambitious but achievable ideas or interventions. It is characterised by working with communities and experts across business and government. It is an approach that emphasises learning from failure, long-term (10+ years) commitment and stretching goals. Moonshots – and, more recently, mission-based public policy, can be traced back to Presentation Kennedy’s challenge to put a man on the moon – and subsequent moonshot style missions in areas ranging from solving cancer (as Richard Nixon was persuaded to attempt the first cancer moonshot) to addressing the causes of climate change.
The approach aims to “privatise failure and socialise success” such that donors bear the financial risk whilst the rewards are made available to all, and to remain humble in the pursuit of ambitious goals. Examples of successful moonshot philanthropy range from funding civil rights and equalities campaigns to the eradication of polio. Current moonshots include finding a cure for Alzheimer’s, developing carbon-free cement, and tackling deforestation to combat climate change.
Our research
We’re delighted to be working with James Chen of the Chen Yet-Sen Family Foundation to explore the role and potential of Moonshot Philanthropy. Our team is led by Professor Beth Breeze, and comprises Dr Steph Haydon, Dr Weinan Wang and Dr Karl Wilding. Our project began in October 2023 and will run until Spring 2025.
Mission-based approaches are a promising way of scaling innovations, but to inspire a new generation of philanthropists we need a better understanding of makes a good moonshot. What ingredients maximise the chances of a moonshot succeeding? And to what problems is the moonshot approach best suited? As our research begins to address these and other questions, we are also interested in whether the approach addresses some of the dominant criticisms of philanthropy.
Our thinking so far
Professor Beth Breeze and James Chen (2022) published Moonshot Philanthropy: achieving responsive social change by privatising failure and socialising success. We have developed a concept paper – What is Moonshot Philanthropy? You can read this here. We’ve also presented at the Banff Giving Summit and will soon present at the ISTR conference in Antwerp. You can download our Moonshot Philanthropy presentation here.
What are others thinking about moonshot philanthropy?
Other researchers and practitioners are thinking about how philanthropy can seek to effect social change by tackling large-scale challenges. Moonshots are arguably part of a family of approaches that seek to deploy capital at scale, including ‘big bets’, audacious philanthropy and grand challenges.
- In HBR, Susan Wolf Ditkoff and Abe Grindle argue that we need more moonshots in their discussion of audacious philanthropy
- The Milken Institute recently hosted an event on how moonshot approaches by philanthropy are revolutionising human health, tackling challenges such as Parkinson’s Disease.
- At Medium, Tom Kalil (Schmidt Futures) and Ivan Amato set out examples of moonshot projects in the Moonshot Catalog
Get in touch
If you would like to talk to us about our work on moonshot philanthropy, please get in touch.