Do One Better with Alberto Lidji in Philanthropy, Sustainability and Social Entrepreneurship

Collaborative philanthropy is emerging as one of the most promising innovations in modern giving.

In this episode of the Do One Better Podcast, host Alberto Lidji is joined by three leading voices in collaborative philanthropy: Alison Powell, Partner at The Bridgespan Group and leader of its Collaborative Philanthropy practice; Kimberly Dasher Tripp, Founder of Strategy for Scale; and Neha Dalal, Principal at Jasper Ridge Partners, where she advises families and foundations on strategic philanthropy and impact. Together, they explore the growing role of collaborative funds as a powerful vehicle for scaling philanthropic impact.

Drawing on their jointly authored article, Collaboratives as a Philanthropic Asset Class, the guests examine how expert-led pooled funds are reshaping the philanthropic landscape. They explain why collaborative funds—vehicles that aggregate capital from multiple donors and deploy it through a shared strategy—can help address some of philanthropy’s most persistent challenges, including fragmented giving, limited donor capacity, and the difficulty of identifying and supporting the highest-impact opportunities.

The conversation explores the analogy between collaborative funds and investment vehicles such as mutual funds, ETFs, and venture capital funds. Just as investors rely on professional fund managers and diversified portfolios, donors can leverage collaborative funds to access deep expertise, rigorous diligence, strategic coordination, and greater reach than they might achieve on their own.

Alison, Kimberly, and Neha discuss the remarkable diversity of collaborative funds operating today—from issue-focused initiatives addressing climate change, gender equity, poverty, global health, and education, to community-led funds that place decision-making power in the hands of those closest to the challenges being addressed. They also examine how collaborative funds can help donors learn while giving, build relationships with peers, and participate in communities of practice focused on shared impact goals.

The discussion addresses common misconceptions and critiques of collaborative giving, including concerns about intermediary costs, loss of donor control, and potential duplication within the philanthropic ecosystem. The guests explain why these considerations are best understood as trade-offs rather than shortcomings, and how collaborative models can often increase both efficiency and effectiveness while mobilizing significantly more capital toward urgent social and environmental challenges.

The episode also explores the infrastructure needed to support the continued growth of collaborative philanthropy, including improved discovery tools, clearer evaluation frameworks, and stronger field-building efforts that help donors identify and engage with collaborative opportunities aligned with their values and objectives.

Whether you are an experienced philanthropist, an emerging donor, a family office advisor, or simply interested in how resources can be deployed more effectively for social impact, this conversation offers a compelling perspective on why collaborative funds may become an increasingly important part of the future of philanthropy.

Key Topics Covered

What collaborative philanthropy funds are and how they operate

Why collaborative funds can be viewed as a philanthropic asset class

The parallels between collaborative giving and investment fund models

How collaborative funds increase efficiency, expertise, and scale

The role of community leadership, proximity, and power-sharing in philanthropy

Different collaborative fund structures, governance models, and strategies

How donors can determine whether collaborative giving is right for them

The importance of donor self-awareness and philanthropic strategy

Common barriers to collaborative giving and how they can be overcome

The infrastructure needed to strengthen the collaborative philanthropy ecosystem

Why many practitioners see collaborative funds as a key part of philanthropy’s future

Memorable Insights

Collaborative funds allow donors to leverage expert knowledge, shared diligence, and collective action.

Giving through a collaborative fund does not replace direct philanthropy; it complements it.

Many of philanthropy’s biggest challenges are too large and interconnected for any single donor to address alone.

Collaborative funds can help move capital more quickly, strategically, and at greater scale.

The future of philanthropy may depend on helping donors move from acting alone to acting together.

Visit our Knowledge Hub at Lidji.org for information on 350+ case studies and interviews with remarkable leaders in philanthropy, sustainability and social entrepreneurship.

Heart and circulatory diseases remain among the world's leading causes of death, yet scientific progress is accelerating at an extraordinary pace. In this episode of the Do One Better Podcast, Alberto Lidji speaks with Charmaine Griffiths, Chief Executive of the British Heart Foundation, about the opportunities and challenges shaping the future of cardiovascular health.

Charmaine shares how the British Heart Foundation invests more than £100 million annually in research, supports millions of people through information and advocacy, and works to influence policy on issues ranging from smoking prevention to public health inequalities.

The conversation explores emerging breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, data science and genetics, including the British Heart Foundation's ambitious Cure Heart programme, which seeks to develop the first treatments for inherited heart muscle conditions that can cause sudden cardiac arrest.

They also discuss the growing role of weight loss medications, the importance of tackling health inequalities, and the need to ensure that advances in medicine benefit everyone.

Key topics include:

How AI, data and genetic technologies are reshaping cardiovascular medicine

The Cure Heart programme and the pursuit of life-changing treatments for inherited heart conditions

Why CPR training and wider access to defibrillators can save lives

The British Heart Foundation's Accelerator Circle and approaches to accelerating innovation

New partnerships focused on women's cardiovascular health and improving outcomes globally

Charmaine concludes with a powerful call to action: learn CPR.

Visit our Knowledge Hub at Lidji.org for information on 350+ case studies and interviews with remarkable leaders in philanthropy, sustainability and social entrepreneurship.

With an endowment exceeding $14 billion and annual grantmaking of roughly $600 to $700 million, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation occupies a distinctive position in global philanthropy: large enough to shape conversations, yet intentionally focused on convening expertise, supporting long-term thinking, and backing institutions working on society’s most complex challenges. In this episode, Amber Miller, President of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, joins Alberto Lidji to discuss how one of the world’s leading foundations is approaching artificial intelligence, emerging technologies, and an increasingly uncertain global landscape.

The conversation explores how AI is becoming a cross-cutting concern across the foundation’s work, spanning climate, democracy, education, public systems, and global development. Rather than treating AI solely as a technological issue, Miller describes efforts to connect traditionally separate areas of expertise, creating new ways to understand both risks and opportunities.

A central focus is security. Miller reflects on near-term threats linked to AI and emerging technologies, including vulnerabilities affecting hospitals, energy grids, water systems, transportation networks, and other forms of critical infrastructure. The discussion also examines the convergence of AI with biosynthesis and quantum technologies, including concerns that advances in quantum-enabled decryption could eventually undermine existing encryption systems with implications for public systems, state resilience, and national security.

The governance challenge is equally complex. Beyond familiar narratives centered on competition between the United States and China, Miller points to the potential influence of "middle powers" and subnational actors in shaping norms, oversight, and approaches to AI governance. The episode considers who will help guide the future of these technologies: governments, researchers, civil society, universities, industry, philanthropic institutions, and actors operating across borders and sectors.

Yet the conversation is far from pessimistic. Miller repeatedly emphasizes that AI is not inherently good or bad, and that its ultimate impact will depend on how societies choose to deploy it. Potential opportunities discussed include:

Accelerating breakthroughs in medicine, genomics, and disease treatment

Improving efficiency in clean energy systems and supporting climate solutions

Enabling more personalized learning and strengthening educational outcomes

Expanding productivity, unlocking new forms of work, and augmenting human capability rather than replacing it

Drawing on a career spanning astrophysics, university leadership, and science-informed public engagement, Miller offers a perspective shaped by interdisciplinary thinking and a deep interest in solving difficult problems. Throughout the episode, she returns to a recurring theme: humanity is living through a pivotal moment marked by rapid technological advancement, societal polarization, and mounting global challenges, but also extraordinary potential for ingenuity, collaboration, and progress.

This is a conversation about AI, philanthropy, governance, and emerging technologies. More fundamentally, it is a conversation about whether institutions can work together to steer powerful innovations toward human flourishing rather than instability.

Visit our Knowledge Hub at Lidji.org for information on 350+ case studies and interviews with remarkable leaders in philanthropy, sustainability and social entrepreneurship.

What does thoughtful philanthropy look like when the ambition is to deploy $6 billion over the next 35 years in support of girls’ education?

In this episode of the Do One Better Podcast, Alberto Lidji speaks with Dana Schmidt, Program Director at Echidna Giving, about the realities of large-scale grantmaking, the responsibility that comes with stewarding significant philanthropic capital, and why supporting girls’ education remains one of the most evidence-backed pathways toward long-term social change. Echidna Giving is expanding rapidly, with annual grantmaking projected to grow from roughly $50 million to $200 million.

Dana explains why giving money away well is far from straightforward. The conversation explores how funders can remain responsive to grantees, learn continuously, and avoid becoming disconnected from the communities they seek to support. Central to Echidna Giving’s approach is a commitment to listening to those closest to the problems, investing in long-term relationships, taking measured risks, and embedding clear values into day-to-day decision making.

The discussion also examines how philanthropic organizations can preserve culture and effectiveness while scaling. Dana shares how Echidna Giving formalized guiding principles for its work, used independent grantee perception surveys to gather honest feedback, and saw stronger results even as the organization grew and expanded geographically.

A major theme throughout the conversation is proximity. As Echidna Giving has built teams closer to the regions where it works, including East Africa, its grantmaking has evolved. The organization has increased direct engagement with locally led institutions and is supporting efforts to strengthen African-led education research, with the aim of shifting who produces evidence and shapes educational priorities.

Dana also outlines the areas where Echidna Giving concentrates its funding, including early childhood, foundational learning, and adolescent girls’ education, recognizing these as pivotal moments that influence whether girls remain in school and thrive over the long term. The conversation considers how philanthropy can complement, rather than replace, public systems, acknowledging that governments remain the largest investors in education worldwide.

This episode is a thoughtful exploration of effective philanthropy, trust-based grantmaking, systems change, and the challenge of turning substantial resources into meaningful, lasting impact.

Visit our Knowledge Hub at Lidji.org for information on 350+ case studies and interviews with remarkable leaders in philanthropy, sustainability and social entrepreneurship.

Nicole Taylor, President and CEO of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, joins Alberto Lidji to explore the evolving landscape of modern philanthropy through the lens of the world’s largest community foundation.

The conversation examines how donor advised funds (DAFs) are reshaping giving across generations, from ultra high net worth philanthropists to everyday donors seeking meaningful impact. Nicole explains why donor advised funds have become a flexible and increasingly influential vehicle for charitable giving, and how Silicon Valley Community Foundation supports donors in translating intention into action.

Nicole also discusses the Foundation’s deep local engagement across the Bay Area, including work focused on housing affordability, economic mobility, healthcare workforce development, and small business growth in one of the most unequal regions in the United States.

The episode further explores the Foundation’s global reach, including how it supports donors pursuing international development and cross border philanthropy through partnerships and philanthropic networks spanning regions such as Africa, including Rwanda.

Key themes include:

The role of donor advised funds in contemporary philanthropy and why they appeal to donors across wealth levels

How philanthropy evolves across generations, from emerging wealth creators to legacy focused giving

Silicon Valley Community Foundation’s work on housing, healthcare careers, and economic opportunity in California

The importance of collaboration, donor circles, and expert networks in advancing more strategic philanthropy

Why community foundations remain essential civic institutions in both local and global giving

Visit our Knowledge Hub at Lidji.org for information on 350+ case studies and interviews with remarkable leaders in philanthropy, sustainability and social entrepreneurship.