Complexity and Institutional Philanthropy

[Pamela McCorduck]

In a talk with an historian of philanthropy the other day, he told me how early 20th century philanthropy was driven by a metaphor derived from the germ theory of disease, very new and exciting just then. Thus the most forward-thinking philanthropists expressed ambitions to "cure" evil at its source; to "cure social ills," to get at root causes, to prevent the spread of social ills.

In the early 21st century, surely the right metaphor is complexity. How would such a metaphor be applied? How would institutional philanthropy organize itself to take advantage of what we now know about complex systems?

Pamela

"To measure the abundance of positrons in cosmic rays, the team used data from the instrument PAMELA (Payload for Antimatter Matter Exploration and Light-nuclei Astrophysics), which launched aboard a Russian satellite in June 2006. Unlike previous antimatter-hunting instruments, PAMELA can pinpoint not just the type of incoming particle but also its energy."

WIRED Science

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FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
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[Nick Thompson]

Pamela,

 

By applying money at the tipping point, we guide society toward favorable attractors and away from unfavorable ones. 

 

Nick

 

Nicholas S. Thompson

Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Ethology,

Clark University ([hidden email])

http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/

 

 

 

 

----- Original Message -----

From: [hidden email]

To: [hidden email]

Sent: 4/14/2009 9:15:21 AM

Subject: [FRIAM] Complexity and Institutional Philanthropy

In a talk with an historian of philanthropy the other day, he told me how early 20th century philanthropy was driven by a metaphor derived from the germ theory of disease, very new and exciting just then. Thus the most forward-thinking philanthropists expressed ambitions to "cure" evil at its source; to "cure social ills," to get at root causes, to prevent the spread of social ills.

In the early 21st century, surely the right metaphor is complexity. How would such a metaphor be applied? How would institutional philanthropy organize itself to take advantage of what we now know about complex systems?

Pamela

"To measure the abundance of positrons in cosmic rays, the team used data from the instrument PAMELA (Payload for Antimatter Matter Exploration and Light-nuclei Astrophysics), which launched aboard a Russian satellite in June 2006. Unlike previous antimatter-hunting instruments, PAMELA can pinpoint not just the type of incoming particle but also its energy."

WIRED Science

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org

[Tom Johnson]

Examples of public administrators and policy makers of measuring and defining "tipping point" successfully and then taking positive action, please? 

Perhaps I'm too pessimistic, but I recall more failures than successes.  e.g. In the '50s, when urban planners apparently decided some cities had passed the tipping point on SOR (single occupancy residences: flop houses) and ordered them razed in San Franciso's South of Market neighborhood and  in downtown St. Louis.  The result: a whole lot of poor people literally put on the streets.  Or in the '70s when Calif. gov Jerry Brown decided there were too many people in mental hospitals, so he ordered them closed.  Result: more incapable people dumped to the streets.

I think Pamela is right about Complexity in this century, but the concept has a ways to go before it reaches general understanding by the public and or public administrators.  So we must keep on keeping on.

-tom

On Tue, Apr 14, 2009 at 12:33 PM, Nicholas Thompson <[hidden email]> wrote:

Pamela,

 

By applying money at the tipping point, we guide society toward favorable attractors and away from unfavorable ones. 

 

Nick

 

Nicholas S. Thompson

Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Ethology,

Clark University ([hidden email])

http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/

 

 

 

 

----- Original Message -----

From: [hidden email]

To: [hidden email]

Sent: 4/14/2009 9:15:21 AM

Subject: [FRIAM] Complexity and Institutional Philanthropy

In a talk with an historian of philanthropy the other day, he told me how early 20th century philanthropy was driven by a metaphor derived from the germ theory of disease, very new and exciting just then. Thus the most forward-thinking philanthropists expressed ambitions to "cure" evil at its source; to "cure social ills," to get at root causes, to prevent the spread of social ills.

In the early 21st century, surely the right metaphor is complexity. How would such a metaphor be applied? How would institutional philanthropy organize itself to take advantage of what we now know about complex systems?

Pamela

"To measure the abundance of positrons in cosmic rays, the team used data from the instrument PAMELA (Payload for Antimatter Matter Exploration and Light-nuclei Astrophysics), which launched aboard a Russian satellite in June 2006. Unlike previous antimatter-hunting instruments, PAMELA can pinpoint not just the type of incoming particle but also its energy."

WIRED Science

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org

--
==========================================
J. T. Johnson
Institute for Analytic Journalism -- Santa Fe, NM USA
www.analyticjournalism.com
505.577.6482(c)                                    505.473.9646(h)
http://www.jtjohnson.com                 [hidden email]

"You never change things by fighting the existing reality.
To change something, build a new model that makes the
existing model obsolete."
-- Buckminster Fuller
==========================================

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org

[Paul Paryski]

Being on the board of a major environment NGO, I think that the conclusion that donor institutions are motivated by a desire to mitigate "illnesses" is too broad a generalization.  Often donors do have a vision of what they or the recipient organization are striving for.  This being said, the idea of applying complexity theory to institutional philanthropy is certainly interesting and perhaps very useful.  How to do it is the question.  "Tipping points" and threshold analysis?  Choosing where and how to give most effectively based on ABMs and emergence?  Worth a discussion, particularly by those seeped in complexity!
Paul


**************
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============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org

[Pamela McCorduck]

Apparently I failed to make myself clear. My informant--as I said, an historian of philanthropy--mentioned that the *metaphor* of the germ theory of disease had deeply influenced the big givers at the turn of the twentieth century (e.g., the Rockefellers, even Carnegie). He didn't say that they literally thought social "ills" were amenable to some strict application of the germ theory of disease. They simply took that point of view as an interesting way to guide their philanthropies.

I'm asking the second set of questions Paul mentions--how do you apply complexity theory to institutional philanthropy? As metaphor? As guiding principles?

Pamela

On Apr 14, 2009, at 5:53 PM, [hidden email] wrote:

Being on the board of a major environment NGO, I think that the conclusion that donor institutions are motivated by a desire to mitigate "illnesses" is too broad a generalization.  Often donors do have a vision of what they or the recipient organization are striving for.  This being said, the idea of applying complexity theory to institutional philanthropy is certainly interesting and perhaps very useful.  How to do it is the question.  "Tipping points" and threshold analysis?  Choosing where and how to give most effectively based on ABMs and emergence?  Worth a discussion, particularly by those seeped in complexity!
Paul


**************
Access 350+ FREE radio stations anytime from anywhere on the web. Get the Radio Toolbar! (http://toolbar.aol.com/aolradio/download.html?ncid=emlcntusdown00000002) ============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org

"To measure the abundance of positrons in cosmic rays, the team used data from the instrument PAMELA (Payload for Antimatter Matter Exploration and Light-nuclei Astrophysics), which launched aboard a Russian satellite in June 2006. Unlike previous antimatter-hunting instruments, PAMELA can pinpoint not just the type of incoming particle but also its energy."

WIRED Science

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org

[Gus Koehler-2]

It was Ronald Regan in the 1960s.

 

Gus Koehler, PhD., CEO 

 

www.timestructures.com

1545 University Avenue
Sacramento, CA 95825
916.564.8683   Fax: [phone]

Cell: 916.716.1740

www.timestructures.com
[hidden email]

From: [hidden email] [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Tom Johnson
Sent: Tuesday, April 14, 2009 11:58 AM
To: [hidden email]; The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Complexity and Institutional Philanthropy

 

Examples of public administrators and policy makers of measuring and defining "tipping point" successfully and then taking positive action, please? 

Perhaps I'm too pessimistic, but I recall more failures than successes.  e.g. In the '50s, when urban planners apparently decided some cities had passed the tipping point on SOR (single occupancy residences: flop houses) and ordered them razed in San Franciso's South of Market neighborhood and  in downtown St. Louis.  The result: a whole lot of poor people literally put on the streets.  Or in the '70s when Calif. gov Jerry Brown decided there were too many people in mental hospitals, so he ordered them closed.  Result: more incapable people dumped to the streets.

I think Pamela is right about Complexity in this century, but the concept has a ways to go before it reaches general understanding by the public and or public administrators.  So we must keep on keeping on.

-tom

On Tue, Apr 14, 2009 at 12:33 PM, Nicholas Thompson <[hidden email]> wrote:

Pamela,

 

By applying money at the tipping point, we guide society toward favorable attractors and away from unfavorable ones. 

 

Nick

 

Nicholas S. Thompson

Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Ethology,

Clark University ([hidden email])

http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/

 

 

 

 

----- Original Message -----

From: [hidden email]

To: [hidden email]

Sent: 4/14/2009 9:15:21 AM

Subject: [FRIAM] Complexity and Institutional Philanthropy

 

In a talk with an historian of philanthropy the other day, he told me how early 20th century philanthropy was driven by a metaphor derived from the germ theory of disease, very new and exciting just then. Thus the most forward-thinking philanthropists expressed ambitions to "cure" evil at its source; to "cure social ills," to get at root causes, to prevent the spread of social ills.

 

In the early 21st century, surely the right metaphor is complexity. How would such a metaphor be applied? How would institutional philanthropy organize itself to take advantage of what we now know about complex systems?

 

Pamela

 

 

 

 

"To measure the abundance of positrons in cosmic rays, the team used data from the instrument PAMELA (Payload for Antimatter Matter Exploration and Light-nuclei Astrophysics), which launched aboard a Russian satellite in June 2006. Unlike previous antimatter-hunting instruments, PAMELA can pinpoint not just the type of incoming particle but also its energy."

 

WIRED Science

 

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org

--
==========================================
J. T. Johnson
Institute for Analytic Journalism -- Santa Fe, NM USA
www.analyticjournalism.com
505.577.6482(c)                                    505.473.9646(h)
http://www.jtjohnson.com                 [hidden email]

"You never change things by fighting the existing reality.
To change something, build a new model that makes the
existing model obsolete."
-- Buckminster Fuller
==========================================

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org

[Merle Lefkoff]

Merle here in San Francisco deeply imbedded in the philanthropic
community this week.  Interesting thread you have going, Pamela and
Paul.  I am advising donor networks and my new client, an international
environmental foundation (and also raising money for the Madrona
Institute)  by talking about applied complexity.  I suggest to my folks
that they might use the principles of CAS to change how they make
decisions on grantmaking, and my message appears to be compelling.  I
hadn't thought about it before, but I use a lot of metaphors to describe
principles like "path dependency" and "self-organization" etc.


Pamela McCorduck wrote:

> Apparently I failed to make myself clear. My informant--as I said, an
> historian of philanthropy--mentioned that the *metaphor* of the germ
> theory of disease had deeply influenced the big givers at the turn of
> the twentieth century (e.g., the Rockefellers, even Carnegie). He
> didn't say that they literally thought social "ills" were amenable to
> some strict application of the germ theory of disease. They simply
> took that point of view as an interesting way to guide their
> philanthropies.
>
> I'm asking the second set of questions Paul mentions--how do you apply
> complexity theory to institutional philanthropy? As metaphor? As
> guiding principles?
>
> Pamela
>
>
>
>
> On Apr 14, 2009, at 5:53 PM, [hidden email]
> <mailto:[hidden email]> wrote:
>
>> Being on the board of a major environment NGO, I think that the
>> conclusion that donor institutions are motivated by a desire to
>> mitigate "illnesses" is too broad a generalization.  Often donors do
>> have a vision of what they or the recipient organization are striving
>> for.  This being said, the idea of applying complexity theory to
>> institutional philanthropy is certainly interesting and perhaps very
>> useful.  How to do it is the question.  "Tipping points" and
>> threshold analysis?  Choosing where and how to give most effectively
>> based on ABMs and emergence?  Worth a discussion, particularly by
>> those seeped in complexity!
>> Paul
>>
>>
>> **************
>> Access 350+ FREE radio stations anytime from anywhere on the web. Get
>> the Radio Toolbar!
>> (http://toolbar.aol.com/aolradio/download.html?ncid=emlcntusdown00000002)
>> ============================================================
>> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
>> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
>> lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
>
> "To measure the abundance of positrons in cosmic rays, the team used
> data from the instrument PAMELA  
> <http://pamela.roma2.infn.it/index.php>(Payload for Antimatter Matter
> Exploration and Light-nuclei Astrophysics), which launched aboard a
> Russian satellite in June 2006. Unlike previous antimatter-hunting
> instruments, PAMELA can pinpoint not just the type of incoming
> particle but also its energy."
>
>
> WIRED Science
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> ============================================================
> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
> lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org

[Pamela McCorduck]

Merle, can you say more? These are exactly the kinds of questions I'm tossing around. (Or should I treat you to a long, chatty lunch or dinner when I get back to Santa Fe, and pick your brains face-to-face?

P.

On Apr 15, 2009, at 3:29 PM, Merle Lefkoff wrote:

Merle here in San Francisco deeply imbedded in the philanthropic community this week.  Interesting thread you have going, Pamela and Paul.  I am advising donor networks and my new client, an international environmental foundation (and also raising money for the Madrona Institute)  by talking about applied complexity.  I suggest to my folks that they might use the principles of CAS to change how they make decisions on grantmaking, and my message appears to be compelling.  I hadn't thought about it before, but I use a lot of metaphors to describe principles like "path dependency" and "self-organization" etc.


Pamela McCorduck wrote:

Apparently I failed to make myself clear. My informant--as I said, an historian of philanthropy--mentioned that the *metaphor* of the germ theory of disease had deeply influenced the big givers at the turn of the twentieth century (e.g., the Rockefellers, even Carnegie). He didn't say that they literally thought social "ills" were amenable to some strict application of the germ theory of disease. They simply took that point of view as an interesting way to guide their philanthropies.

I'm asking the second set of questions Paul mentions--how do you apply complexity theory to institutional philanthropy? As metaphor? As guiding principles?

Pamela

On Apr 14, 2009, at 5:53 PM, [hidden email] <[hidden email]> wrote:

Being on the board of a major environment NGO, I think that the conclusion that donor institutions are motivated by a desire to mitigate "illnesses" is too broad a generalization.  Often donors do have a vision of what they or the recipient organization are striving for.  This being said, the idea of applying complexity theory to institutional philanthropy is certainly interesting and perhaps very useful.  How to do it is the question.  "Tipping points" and threshold analysis?  Choosing where and how to give most effectively based on ABMs and emergence?  Worth a discussion, particularly by those seeped in complexity!

Paul

**************

Access 350+ FREE radio stations anytime from anywhere on the web. Get the Radio Toolbar! (http://toolbar.aol.com/aolradio/download.html?ncid=emlcntusdown00000002) ============================================================

FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv

Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College

lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org

"To measure the abundance of positrons in cosmic rays, the team used data from the instrument PAMELA  <http://pamela.roma2.infn.it/index.php>(Payload for Antimatter Matter Exploration and Light-nuclei Astrophysics), which launched aboard a Russian satellite in June 2006. Unlike previous antimatter-hunting instruments, PAMELA can pinpoint not just the type of incoming particle but also its energy."

WIRED Science

------------------------------------------------------------------------

============================================================

FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv

Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College

lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org

"To measure the abundance of positrons in cosmic rays, the team used data from the instrument PAMELA (Payload for Antimatter Matter Exploration and Light-nuclei Astrophysics), which launched aboard a Russian satellite in June 2006. Unlike previous antimatter-hunting instruments, PAMELA can pinpoint not just the type of incoming particle but also its energy."

WIRED Science

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org