Context

Foundations all over the world are grappling with their role in the emerging field of data and artificial intelligence. The field is fraught with potential controversy but also with possibility. Data has the potential to help us work at a larger scale than ever before, be more efficient, and solve problems more effectively. 

Despite the potential, philanthropy isn’t engaging in this field fast enough, and is well behind other sectors. Very few big foundations have the capacity or technical knowledge to either shape innovations or make sense of which ones to back, and when they do get involved they face complex challenges about transparency, ownership and ethics.

About the retreat

This three-day gathering brought together pioneering global funders to explore how data can help cross-sector partnerships address complex problems, and the role of philanthropy in this. The retreat built on SIX’s latest global scan and research highlighting how data is being used in different ways for social good, the challenges in this field and how philanthropy is and can be engaging in this work.

We explored:

• What is the role of philanthropy in enabling more data-based systems change?
• How can we best develop the capacity, infrastructure and access to accelerate and sustain the use of data?
• What are the next big opportunities for social action?
• How can we collectively learn as rapidly as technology advances?

Insights and learning

Hundreds of organisations are beginning to use data for social good and systemic change. For example, predictive algorithms can help improve human decision-making, artificial intelligence and machine learning can help to predict who might be at most risk of a serious illness, and real-time monitoring, using satellites, mobile phones, social media, and Internet of Things technology, allows decisions to be made with the most up-to-date information.

But there are many challenges around privacy and ethics and a lack of resources to acquire both human capacity and the data and data infrastructure itself. Philanthropy can offer the support that data for social good needs to reach its potential. Beyond traditional grant making, it can fund enabling environments and capacity building, act as a convenor, create or give data, and fund open data platforms. Philanthropy can take the long-view and take risks where others cannot, which is what most data projects require at this stage.

Partners and collaborators

Our work exploring the role of philanthropy in using data is supported by, and carried out in partnership with, Nesta (UK), Lankelly Chase (UK), The McConnell Foundation (Canada) and the Robert Bosch Foundation (Germany).