Katherine Fulton, President of the Monitor Institute, responded to an article about strategic philanthropy originally published in the Stanford Social Innovation Review. Her response was published on the website alongside seven others. She notes:

"Strategic philanthropy is smart but not wise. That is why so many seasoned social change leaders have voiced doubts about it, publicly and privately, since it gained prominence and adherents. Peel away the theory the authors now expound, and what you have is praiseworthy common sense. Their argument is both well articulated and overdue.

The original article, “Strategic Philanthropy for a Complex World" appeared in the Summer 2014 issue of Stanford Social Innovation Review. The original article, authored by John Kania, Mark Kramer, and Patty Russell, sparked further debate and conversations among philanthropy leaders around the world. The authors noted:

"To solve today's complex social problems, foundations need to shift from the prevailing model of strategic philanthropy that attempts to predict outcomes to an emergent model that better fits the realities of creating social change in a complex world."

Fulton and other philanthropy leaders responded to the original article with their own perspectives.

"Change cannot be controlled. It can’t be distilled into a recipe that anyone can follow. That is clearly one of the lessons of strategic philanthropy’s evolution so far. We must learn to work together in new ways to guide and cultivate change—to master sensibilities and skills that remain too rare in philanthropy today."

Read the source article at Monitor Institute