Home
About Us
Operating Archetypes Webinar - Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors
Foundation: Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, Skoll Foundation, California Wellness Foundation
Operating Archetypes is a new resource created by Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors to help philanthropies and other donors better understand their distinct position in the philanthropy ecosystem. The webinar was moderated by Renee Karibi-Whyte, Senior Vice President of RPA. A Talent Agency is in the business of spotting emerging leaders, often using open competitions to get new ideas into the field. An Underwriter is an insurance company is an underwriter, although they're kind of close to it. There is no philanthropy that works the way a Talent Agency does, although that would be fun to see.
A Campaign Manager partners with other organizations and often the public sector to try and tackle a very big, complicated problem that needs a lot of players. Think Tanks don't just fund experts in a field, they hire experts and bring them into their enterprise. Field Builders look to fill in gaps where things don't even exist. The California Wellness Foundation's mission is to support health and wellness across the state of California. Georgia's organization Humanize works with sustainability and income generation of vulnerable populations in Brazil.
Richard's top three out Operating Archetypes are Campaign Manager, Field Builder, and Venture Catalyst. I think the power of archetypes is it helps you understand both your intention and what it is that you're doing. It's a combination of things, and all the archetypes bring some angle that you've never thought about as a donor in the ecosystem. Richard and Renee ask Georgia and Melissa about whether their teams are equipped to operate in the archetypal mode of Sower and Designer. Georgia: Net weaving helps us to evolve as a group of systematic thinkers on how to do philanthropy in these tough times.
Many of the people that we spoke to talked about transitioning from one kind of archetype to another, as the field they're working in changes. We are moving into a period at Cal Wellness where we're examining our current strategic framework. It's a strategic planning tool I find really valuable. Are we achieving what we intended? What's happening in response to the way that we're behaving in the world?
And what capacities do we need to build out? Thinking about how you assess your internal capacity is a great opportunity for funders for many reasons. One of the innovations that we've seen in the last 10 years is recognizing what Georgia called soft power: influence, convening capacity, voice. Those require a different set of muscles, and skills may be there, but you may need to work inside your organization to develop those muscles.
Selected Grant News Headlines
A customized collection of grant news from foundations and the federal government from around the Web.
California must consider how to increase interest in teaching and lower the cost of and barriers to entering the profession.AB-1128, a bill under consideration in the legislature, proposes a...more
Mondelēz's Sustainable Futures Impact Investment platform said the capital "further advance[s] scalable, high-impact solutions at the nexus of climate, community, and circularity" The companies...more
South African recycling startup Regenize has secured an undisclosed investment from E Squared Investments.The deal combines philanthropic goals with venture capital methods to support scalable,...more
Cambridge-based Remedium was named winner of the Climate Impact Prize at the Net Zero Technology Centre's annual TechX Demo Day in Aberdeen.The prize is given to the startup with the most promising...more
Sustainable Times is a media partner for this event, which takes place on June 24-25, 2025, at ExCeL London, as part of London Climate Action Week.RESET Connect provides a network of potential...more
Rad AI announces an additional $8 million investment led by four health systems.Advocate Health, Memorial Hermann Health System, Corewell Health, and Atlantic Health System lead the investment.Rad AI...more
MedTech CellCentric has raised 90m in fresh funding.The money will support the advancement of the Cambridge company's oral treatment for multiple myeloma, inobrodib.The financing was co-led by RA...more
Impact investing can be a valuable financial tool for private-market investors seeking to manage risk.Impact funds direct capital to companies that generate impact environmental and social...more
Impact Investing Principles for Pensions updated to reflect changing market environment.Pensions Age Magazine is published by Pensions & Investment Association.For more information, visit...more
Measuring AI's impact requires clear metrics.To evaluate AI's return on investment (ROI), healthcare organizations focus on four key metrics in the contact center.Narrowing AI implementation to...more
Social Innovation News from...
MacArthur Foundation
Skoll Foundation
Rockefeller Foundation
Changemakers
Social Entrepreneurship
Spotlight
When it Comes to Social Enterprises, Failure is the Best Platform for Innovation
In the world of social enterprises, failure is a cringe-worthy moment nobody wants to talk about. But, social entrepreneurs can benefit from their failures.
