SMU’s Business Families Institute (BFI) launched a philanthropy framework focused on high-potential initiatives which have a longer time horizon but ultimately achieve longer-term impact. The report, titled ‘The Moonshot Approach to Philanthropy: A Framework from ‘What Ifs?’ to Action’, was developed with support from The Chen Yet-Sen Family Foundation and outlines five elements of the moonshot approach and presents actionable tools for philanthropists to make better long-term funding decisions.
SMU Associate Professor of Strategy & Entrepreneurship (Education) Kenneth Goh, who led the report, said at the launch event that 72% of organisations working on systems change receive less than a quarter of their funding as unrestricted grants, and most philanthropic capital continues to flow towards direct service delivery. Assoc Prof Goh noted that viable enterprises were unable to attract funding because their timeline did not fit conventional funding logic. He stressed that the moonshot approach will not replace direct service delivery, but instead work alongside conventional philanthropy to “invest in conditions for lasting change”.