Briefing No. 50
OUR 2025/26 ANNUAL REVIEW
We are very happy to share our new Annual Review. The data point we are returning to most often this year is this: more than 95% of our clients say that working with Greenwood Place has changed their approach to philanthropy.
The Annual Review is a combination of numbers and stories that we hope you will enjoy. We share the results from our Annual Survey of clients and grantee partners and some fantastic stories from our community that we hope will leave you with a sense of possibility and inspiration to take action.
Thank you very much to all of our community members who have completed the survey - your feedback shapes our work and helps us to improve every year. We appreciate your support very much indeed.
What we’re reading
On the Greenwood Place Bedside Table
Hope for Cynics by Jamal Zaki
“In study after study, most people fail to realise how generous, trustworthy, and open-minded others really are. The average person underestimates the average person…..hope is not a naive way of approaching the world. It is an accurate response to the best data available.” Hope for Cynics is exactly what we need to read right now.
the wonderful story of henry sugar
Wes Anderson has adapted Roald Dahl’s brilliant 1977 book into a Oscar-winning short film. Benedict Cumberbatch is just one of the extraordinary cast. He plays Henry Sugar, the playboy who develops the ability to see through objects. It’s a skill he hopes to use to cheat at cards, but the route into philanthropy that he discovers through the journey is even more interesting.
the siege of sarajevo
At the end of the twentieth century a European city found itself under the longest siege in the history of warfare. Our partners at FAMA have created an interactive version of the hand-drawn map that documents the physical and social reality of survival in Sarajevo between 1992 and 1996. Combining first-hand testimonies with military maps and photographic records, the map charts everything from sniper zones and water collection points, to survival gardens and venues for cultural events. It is a testament to courage, creativity and resilience.
the critical importance of accountability
The most fundamental job of the funder is to make sure the beneficiaries benefit.
In the for-profit world, firms are accountable to their customers. If customers don’t value their products, the firm doesn’t make a profit. If the firm doesn’t do better, it goes out of business and investors lose their money. Both firms and investors are accountable to the customer. Provide value or die. The nonprofit world doesn’t work like that. The customers - we presume to call them “beneficiaries” - pretty much have to take what they’re given. Kevin Starr's article in SSIR asks donors to "...be a real advocate for those we’re trying to serve. Be accountable for impact."
toilets
Less than 60% of the world has access to safe sanitation. Still.
can regenerative farming save our soil?
One of the things we spend time on at Greenwood Place is thinking about food systems - and regenerative farming is something that we’ve learned a lot about over the past few years. If you’d like an introduction, JoJo has been listening to Andy Cato talking about his transition from the music industry to the creation of Wildfarmed and about harnessing nature’s tendency to abundance.
the longitude prize
Since 2014, Longitude Prizes have named hard problems publicly and inviting solutions from anywhere - incentivising researchers and inventors to unlock possibilities nobody on the inside saw. One example: antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest challenges of our era and ripe for innovation. The Longitude Prize for AMR winner has created a diagnostic test that rapidly and accurately identifies the presence of a bacterial infection and the right antibiotic to prescribe.
KÖLN 75
A film that tells another story of possibility, Köln 75 tells the story behind the most famous concert in jazz: a completely improvised solo performance by Keith Jarrett in 1975 that became the best-selling piano album ever recorded. The promoter was an eighteen-year-old called Vera Brandes. The piano was unplayable in places. What came out of that was the recording everyone now knows.
and finally…from our community
The Vuma Conservation Fund is something new. It is a $65 million pooled fund built by and for African conservation organisations, designed to provide multi-year, unrestricted funding to Africa’s leading conservation organisations. Hosted by our partners at Maliasili, we are delighted that Vuma exists and excited about what it will make possible.
HOW CAN WE HELP YOU?
Greenwood Place provides philanthropy support, advice and execution for a small group of strategic philanthropists. We take an entrepreneurial approach to tackling tough social and environmental problems. We work closely with our clients to find the places where they can make the most difference, we support their learning and we partner with them to achieve real, lasting change.
The Greenwood is the place in Shakespeare's plays where characters go to grow, change and learn.