In eJewishPhilanthropy’s exclusive opinion column “The 501(C) Suite,” leading foundation executives share what they are working on and thinking about with the wider philanthropic field. 

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• NOW WATCHING: Debate between former President Trump and President Biden
• BREAKING NEWS: Assassination attempt against former President Trump
• BREAKING NEWS: President Biden announces he will not seek reelection
• LATEST UPDATE: Democratic party rally around a new candidate in record time
• BREAKING NEWS: Rocket kills 12 Druze children playing soccer
• BREAKING NEWS: Assassinations of #2 of Hezbollah and head of political wing of Hamas

All of those major events occurred in a span of 33 days, coinciding with Israel’s ongoing war with Hamas, Ukraine’s ongoing war with Russia, a landmark election in the U.K., the warmest days ever in the history of our planet and countless other major events.  

We are in a state of VUCA — volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity — a concept coined by the U.S. Army College in 1987 and popularized by the leadership theories of Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus. In short, the term describes the current state of our world.

Yet, as coach and facilitator Robin Sawan stated in 2020, “[w]hile VUCA may be the latest buzzword, this constant evolution is not really anything new. Businesses have been facing bold, dramatic change in their specific industries for many years.”

The difference today is not change itself but the pace of change. In part because of the advent of new technologies — and we are still learning the true impact of many of them — the change is happening not year to year but day-to-day or even second-to-second. Human beings are not built to observe, process and adapt this fast.  

What, if anything, does this have to do with philanthropy?

Instead of reacting to emergencies and then waiting to “get back to normal,” we must recognize that we are living in a new normal. There is no going back. We need to embrace VUCA, understanding we will experience different degrees of it at different times, and prepare ourselves to navigate effectively through the most acute VUCA moments.

In the past, when change occurred more slowly, we could see it, define it and then execute a plan to address it. Professional team retreats, strategic plans, utilization of “Six Sigma” concepts and so on all were designed around seemingly stable assumptions and accepted norms. To be clear, there is still a time and place for this type of work; both funders and grantees still need to engage in strategic planning and remain focused on long-term goals and outcomes. It just can’t be our exclusive approach anymore. We need to train ourselves, to strengthen our adaptive “muscles” so we are ready to quickly and effectively react to issues and unanticipated developments in as close to real-time as possible.

For this to happen, there are three mindsets we need to adopt — and the quicker we do it, the better:

1. Perfection is the enemy of good. There is no time to dot every “i” and cross every “t”. Operating effectively when a crisis occurs in a state of VUCA requires a “good enough” mindset. It requires some data on the issue or challenge at hand, some gut instinct on how to move forward, and a little dash of just plain old “I hope this works.” Think about what we do when an earthquake somewhere in the world results in major devastation: We get money out the door quickly through existing emergency philanthropic systems and networks to people we think are doing good work. We don’t have time to investigate in our usual manner.
2. Decisions must be made now. Philanthropy needs a decision-making system that can be utilized as needed and that moves at a pace reflecting VUCA times. Quarterly board meetings and other regular processes are still right for long-term grantmaking, but let’s not wait for the next emergency to think about what new systems we need in place to be effective. The next emergency is not an “if;” it is a “when.” At the Jim Joseph Foundation, we “exercised this muscle” during the COVID-19 pandemic. Then, after Oct. 7, we were able to draw on that experience and move at a very rapid pace to support our grantee-partners. In less than two weeks we had an emergency grant system in place that allowed for rapid decisions and disbursements.
3. We’re all doing our best working toward similar goals. In these moments of crisis, people need to trust that within our big tent of Jewish philanthropy, education and engagement everyone else is trying their best. Of course, ideally, grantors, grantees, board members and professionals always trust each other, but having this trust between us is even more important when VUCA is at its most extreme. As we move quickly and try to coordinate, some things will work and other things will not. Mistakes will be made. It is critical to not judge each other harshly in these moments. We are more likely to learn from mistakes and shortcomings if we all operate from a place of trust.

Undoubtedly there are other mindsets and approaches to our work that we can adopt now to help us in the future. To this end, we should continue to think as a field and share our experiences about what worked best during past moments of crisis. We don’t know when the next one will come, but we can be certain it’s coming. VUCA is our normal. Our planning, coordination and actions must reflect that.

Barry Finestone is president and CEO of the Jim Joseph Foundation.