By Koffi M. Kouakou – Strategic Foresight Practitioner, African Futures Scholar & Sessional Lecturer, Wits School of Governance
Protecting the past or constructing a future that matters
South Africa has reached a point where philanthropy must decide whether it will protect the past or help construct a future that matters. At the recent IPASA Annual Philanthropy Symposium in Stellenbosch, the session on the Futures of Philanthropy surfaced a powerful realisation: the world around us is transforming faster than the social impact practices designed to support it. Delegates expressed urgency, hope, concern, and ambition as we explored what philanthropy must become if it is to help build a more just, compassionate, resilient and flourishing future.
Many in the room remarked afterwards that the session felt like a turning point because it moved beyond technical, mechanical and bureaucratic conversations, and went directly to the emotional, psychological and moral foundations of giving – something seldom spoken about in philanthropy, but profoundly necessary.
The discussion centred on how uncertainty, fear, trust and imagination shape philanthropic decision-making in South Africa. These forces are often invisible, yet they are quietly shaping the futures we enable or deny.
Three possible futures for philanthropy
The session explored three possible futures for philanthropy in South Africa – not predictions, but choices we may make consciously or drift into unconsciously. They reveal what is at stake.
These scenarios highlight a critical moment of decision: Will philanthropy preserve legacy, remain stuck in transition, or help regenerate a nation? Moreso, there is no time like now to choose courage over caution and imagination over inertia.
- The first scenario, The Regenerative Commons, imagines a future in which philanthropy becomes participatory, community-powered and dignity-driven, where communities are co-authors of change rather than beneficiaries waiting for approval, and where generosity becomes infrastructure for belonging, not a transaction for compliance.
- The second scenario, The Fragmented Transition, reflects a future marked by partial progress and emotional fatigue – where innovation emerges unevenly, collaboration is fragile, and hope is strained by exhaustion.
- The third scenario, The Philanthropy of Extraction, portrays a future where giving becomes performative, transactional and disconnected – where money moves, but power does not, and where impact is counted but not felt.
Future vision shapes philanthropy
The panel’s conversation highlighted the emotional dimension of foresight: that the future is felt before it is imagined and imagined before it is built. Fear narrows possibility; hope expands it; trust enables collective intelligence. If philanthropy is guided by fear – fear of failure, fear of transparency, fear of losing control – it retreats into cautious incrementalism. But if driven by hope and trust, it becomes courageous, systemic and regenerative. This emotional undercurrent surfaced repeatedly at the Symposium and felt like the most important theme of the day. As one panellist reflected afterwards, “foresight is emotional before it is analytical – and so is philanthropy.”
The discussion also emphasised that philanthropy is, at its core, an investment in a future vision, whether explicit or unspoken.
Shaping a future of possibility
My colleague Geci Karuri-Sebina posed a powerful question: Whose future are we making possible, and whose are we foreclosing? Every funding decision is a bet on a future we believe is worth shaping. And because there is no data about the future, every act of giving is an expression of belief – a declaration of what we think is possible. Without a futures lens, philanthropy risks repeating what she called ‘used futures’: recycling old solutions inside outdated systems, instead of opening space for genuinely new possibilities.
The COVID-19 pandemic unexpectedly demonstrated that profound change is possible when urgency becomes undeniable. Systems that once resisted flexibility transformed overnight. Institutions shifted rapidly. Boundaries softened. Collaborative experimentation flourished. Innovation became survival. This experience revealed something essential: that we do not lack the capacity to change – we lack the emotional permission to act before crisis forces.
Connecting past, present and future
This led to a framework introduced during the panel for thinking about the current inflection point in South African philanthropy – what was described as the Three Tyrannies, or the Three Transitions, mapped through the three horizons of transformation: the past (legacy), the present (transition), and the future (regeneration).
- The transition in the first horizon is the Tyranny of Legacy, and it translates into a scenario named The Philanthropy of Extraction.
- The transition in the second horizon transition is the Tension of Transition, and it translates into a scenario named The Fragmented Transition.
- The transition in the third horizon is the Possibility of Regeneration, and it translates into a scenario named The Regenerative Commons.
At the centre of that framing was the reminder that philanthropy must consciously navigate the tension between memory, urgency and imagination. The past still exerts gravitational force; the present is turbulent; the future pulls with both hope and uncertainty.
Taking a closer look at the three transitions and scenarios
- A world where familiar but defunct structures persist: The Tyranny of Legacy describes the weight of inherited philanthropic models built around charity rather than justice, benevolence rather than belonging, and oversight rather than co-ownership. It reflects a world where familiar structures persist even when they no longer serve their purpose. In this horizon, philanthropy risks protecting what is comfortable rather than what is necessary. The critical question it raises is whether philanthropy exists to preserve legacy or to enable dignity.
- A world of fragile trust and incoherent progress: The Tension of Transition names our current reality: a messy middle where the old model is collapsing, and the new one is not yet fully formed. It is a time alive with innovation and experimentation, but heavy with exhaustion and fragmentation. Collaboration is attempted, but trust is fragile. Progress is made, yet coherence is elusive. In this horizon, the question that emerged most painfully from the room was: How do we renew the tired heart of a nation without losing faith in one another?
- A world of belonging, dignity and shared futures: The Possibility of Regeneration describes a future where philanthropy becomes regenerative, participatory and imagination-based — where the purpose of giving is to build social systems capable of sustaining belonging, dignity and shared futures. It calls for philanthropy to become less a patron and more a partner; less a funder and more a facilitator; less a rescuer and more a co-creator.
A pivotal moment of urgency for philanthropy
Across these three horizons lies a simple but urgent truth: South Africa is running out of time. We face a choice between expanding what is possible, defending what is familiar, or collapsing into cynicism and paralysis. Which path we choose depends not only on strategy or resources, but on the emotional climate we cultivate – whether we allow fear to shrink possibility or allow hope and trust to expand it. Philanthropy must be a virtue rather than a mechanical activity.
Furthermore, the future of philanthropy will not be determined by the size of our financial resources, but by the depth of our courage, creativity and imagination. It will be shaped not only by what we fund, but by what we choose to feel, believe and enable together.
The question that remained after the Symposium is one that deserves national reflection: Are we shaping the future, or merely financing the past?
Transforming the purpose and practice of philanthropy
The work ahead requires humility, discipline, emotional intelligence and collective imagination. It requires philanthropy to move from the language of control to the practice of empathy; from transactional performance to relational trust; from funding projects to enabling futures. And it requires us to act now, not later.
There is, indeed, no time like now.
If we dare to transform the purpose and practice of philanthropy, we may help rewrite the destiny of a nation.