This stream engages what is shifting at a systemic level: in how civil society is organised, in how philanthropy operates, in what solidarity looks like when the structures it depended on are under strain. It is not about individual organisations but about the larger landscape, including the architecture of how money moves, how risk is distributed, and what the relationship between funders and civil society may need to become.
OSF colleagues, including those holding institutional and operational perspectives beyond the programme team, will be present in the first and third sessions. They will be as honest as they can about how the organisation operates, what the structural constraints and possibilities are, and what they can and cannot share. The second session is partner-only.
This stream does not carry the promise that OSF or the wider philanthropic sector will change as a result. What it offers is a space for honest conversation about the realities facing both civil society and philanthropy. It may lead to shared communications, publicly raised questions, or collectively identified priorities that participants choose to carry forward into the broader field. It may lead to a message from the room to the wider philanthropic sector about what needs to be on the table. What emerges will belong to the people in the room, not to any single institution.
Participants may find this stream most useful if they:
Want to engage with what is shifting at a systemic level across civil society and philanthropy.
Are interested in the structural questions: how money moves, how solidarity is organised, what needs to change in the architecture of the sector.
Want to be in conversation with OSF colleagues who hold institutional perspectives, in a space designed for honest exchange.
Are willing to contribute to thinking that may have implications beyond any single organisation.
This stream may not be the best fit if you are primarily seeking personal support (Stream 1), peer exchange about organisational challenges (Stream 2), or engagement with wider geopolitical dynamics (Stream 4). It is also not a space for pitching, lobbying, or advocating for specific funding decisions.
This is a space of shared inquiry across structural positions. OSF colleagues are present not to defend or represent the institution but to engage honestly with what the sector is facing and with what their institution can and cannot do. Partners are asked to engage with the same honesty: to speak from what is real rather than what is strategic.
The partner-only session creates protected space for partners to name what they need to name before engaging with funders. What travels into the shared sessions is determined by participants.
Facilitated inquiry across structural positions (partners, funders, intermediaries).
Structured formats for honest exchange across power differences, including fishbowl and other approaches.
Space for partners to develop shared messages or questions for the wider field.
Partner-only session for candid reflection before and between shared sessions.
Held with particular attention to the dynamics of power, disclosure, and reciprocity.