Center for Strategic Philanthropy: Spring 2022

In this Issue

Reports and Resources
Global Conference Highlights
Program Updates
CSP and Partners in the News

In 25 years of Milken Institute convenings, philanthropists have always played a leading role, contributing ideas, lessons, and learnings that strengthen the sector and motivate more giving. This year was extra special.

If you missed any of the sessions at the Institute’s 25th Global Conference, you can watch the videos on our website. Our LinkedIn page and Giving Compass magazine are updated regularly to keep you informed about our work with high-impact philanthropists. We have more publications coming out in the next few weeks, so keep checking back. In the meantime, reach out with any questions or ideas for collaboration.

Reports and Resources

• Roadmap for Investment in Dementia Care: The Center for Strategic Philanthropy (CSP), the Milken Institute Center for the Future of Aging, and the Alzheimer’s Society, the UK’s leading dementia charity, partnered to create a roadmap that assesses the needs and gaps in dementia care and research and identifies the most promising opportunities for philanthropy to address them. While predominantly focused on the United States and UK, these recommendations can be applied in many countries with secure and stable economies.

• Type 1 Diabetes: Since the original roadmap on Autoantibody Screening for Type 1 Diabetes was published in March 2021, the field has moved quickly. As such, CSP undertook extensive follow-up research to provide an update on the state of progress toward accessible T1D antibody screening for all. Based on extensive interviews with thought leaders and stakeholders, a public comment period, and public sessions to discuss the roadmap, this update captures the ongoing efforts of the community to continue toward T1D screening for the general population and identifies areas where further work or collaboration might be needed.

• Strategic Philanthropy in Practice: In 2020, CSP published Stepping off the Sidelines, a guide analyzing trends among ultra-high-net-worth philanthropists. Our newest publication, Stepping Up: Strategic Ultra-High-Net-Worth Philanthropy in Practice spotlights what that work looks like in practice, providing case studies and examples other philanthropists can learn from. Interested in putting the principles of strategic philanthropy to work? We can help.

Global Conference Highlights

In addition to the three public panels on philanthropy and innovation at the Milken Institute’s 25th Global Conference, CSP hosted the first-ever Philanthropic Investors Forum. This meeting brought together family principals and heads of institutional philanthropies for private meetings to share learnings and best practices in philanthropic giving. All public sessions are available on the CSP website.

At the half-day Philanthropic Investors Forum, an opening plenary featured Elizabeth Tanya Masiyiwa, executive director, Delta Philanthropies, and CEO, Akello, and David Rubenstein, co-founder and chairman, The Carlyle Group, in conversation with CSP Executive Director Melissa Stevens about their philanthropy and the pivots they had to make along the way. The plenary was followed by in-depth breakout sessions focused on topics such as funder collaboratives, diversifying philanthropic investments, risks and risk-taking in philanthropy, and the role of philanthropists in accelerating biomedical therapeutics. Contact us to learn more about participating in our next forum.

Revisit highlights from CSP's public sessions below:

Power of Prizes for Global Innovation

In this session, Anousheh Ansari, CEO, X-Prize, Precious Moloi-Motsepe, co-founder and CEO, Motsepe Foundation, and La June Montgomery Tabron, president and CEO, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, spoke with CSP Senior Director Emily Musil Church, PhD, about the ways in which high-profile prizes are driving major change and creating new markets.

Technology Disruptors Set Their Sights on Philanthropy and Science

This session featured Cara Altimus, PhD, senior director, CSP, David Baszucki, co-founder and CEO of Roblox, and Eric Schmidt, chairman of Steel Perlot, in a discussion moderated by Willow Bay, dean of USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. The panel focused on technology innovators who have disrupted their fields and how they are applying this mindset to use their wealth for good, shaking up systems and approaches along the way.

Corporate Philanthropy: Strategies to Serve Communities

CSP Executive Director Melissa Stevens moderated this panel featuring David Heath, co-founder and CEO, Bombas, Graham Macmillan, president, Visa Foundation, Naomi Morenzoni, senior vice president, philanthropy, Salesforce, and Dalila Wilson-Scott, executive vice president and chief diversity officer, Comcast Corporation, for a conversation on what is driving corporate philanthropy, strategies to implement positive impact, and changes needed to create equity in the world.

Program Updates

• The Follicular Lymphoma Foundation (FLF) launched the FLF CURE FL Awards in January 2022. Managed and administered by CSP, this medical research grant program aims to advance therapeutic research that will lead to a cure for follicular lymphoma (FL) and improve treatment options for those who live with FL today and for anyone who might be diagnosed in the future. Learn more.

• CSP, together with our philanthropic partners, has been working to motivate action and investments to advance research into bipolar disorder. In January, the Baszucki Brain Research Fund announced $9 million in grants to support bipolar disorder-focused research. Forty-five research grants awarded to teams from 31 organizations will provide funding to support pilot research in therapeutic discovery and translational efforts. Learn more.

• The Ann Theodore Foundation, in partnership with CSP, finalized the six research groups that will be receiving $3.2 million to study basic science for sarcoidosis, a poorly understood condition of immune dysregulation that can affect nearly every part of the body. The final decisions were made in March 2022, and projects are expected to start in June 2022. These projects have the potential to expand scientific understanding of this potentially life-threatening condition.

• Sylvie Raver, PhD, a director at CSP, co-authored a paper focused on misophonia, a disorder involving decreased tolerance to specific sounds or other associated stimuli. The paper, made possible by the Misophonia Research Fund, presents a foundational, consensus definition of the disorder—a major step forward for a community that until recently has struggled to gain recognition and funding to develop treatments. This paper is the culmination of collaborative efforts among key experts within the field who underwent a comprehensive exercise to rigorously determine a field definition based on currently available scientific literature.

• In February, the Milken Institute and the Motsepe Foundation announced the 25 teams receiving Finalist prizes for the Milken-Motsepe Prize in AgriTech. At this stage, each Finalist team will receive $10,000 to further develop and test their designs on small and medium-sized farms in Africa. In April 2023, the competition will award US$2 million in total prizes for innovative solutions to increase economic value to farmers in Africa.

In Focus: CSP and Our Partners in the News

• CSP partner David Baszucki was featured in Forbes Magazine for the Baszucki Brain Research Foundation’s investments in research for bipolar disorder. Baszucki spoke on the Global Conference panel Technology Disruptors Set Their Sights on Philanthropy and Science.

• CSP Senior Director Emily Musil Church, PhD, spoke with Mbali Nwoko, host of the Private Property Farming Podcast, about the Milken-Motsepe Prize in AgriTech. View articles, podcasts, and TV segments here.

• CSP Executive Director Melissa Stevens published Embracing New Practices in Strategic Philanthropy, promoting unrestricted giving and collaborating with peers and experts to ensure effective giving.

• CSP Senior Associate Quinton Banks, PhD, published Rebalancing Biomedical Research in the Ongoing Era of COVID-19, which focused on how the pandemic has negatively affected biomedical researchers and the philanthropic opportunity to invest strategically in research fields to mitigate impact.

• CSP Director Emily Baxi, PhD, and Associate Director Daniel Pham, PhD, published Turning the Tide on Bipolar Disorder, which focused on the need for further funding in bipolar disorder research.

• Milken Institute Center for the Future of Aging Executive Director Nora Super and Alzheimer’s Society Director Fiona Carragher published Curing the Dementia Care System. Their article focused on opportunity areas where government, philanthropy, and private capital can improve the quality of life for people living with dementia and their caregivers.