Renata Minerbo: Taking a Holistic Approach to Philanthropy
- May 27
- 2 min read
What does it really mean to give well?
Most of us have an instinct that something is broken in the way money moves through the philanthropic world. Too much paperwork. Too little trust. Grants that last a year and expect to solve problems that took generations to create.
Our co-founder, Renata Minerbo, recently sat down with the Philanthropisms podcast to talk about what an alternative might look like — not in theory, but in practice.
She covers a lot of ground: our trust-based approach to grantmaking, what we've learned from genuinely handing over decision-making power, and the model of Flow Funding, where individuals with lived experience distribute money entirely as they see fit.
“We say we're now working with who we trust trusts."
She's also honest about the tensions. On the contradiction at the heart of much philanthropic giving:
“If we're using 5% of the whole portfolio for philanthropy and then using 95% of this portfolio to just feed the system we want to change — the maths doesn't work."
And on philanthropy's complicated relationship with the problems it claims to solve: “Philanthropy is both part of the problem and part of the solution."
We don't claim to have all the answers. But we think these are the right questions to be asking — and we hope you'll listen.
We discuss:
How did Be The Earth come about?
How does Be The Earth implement a trust-based approach to grantmaking?
How do you ensure that a trust-based approach doesn’t risk becoming exclusionary? (i.e. that you aren’t limiting your scope to organisations and individuals you already know and trust, but constantly widening the circle?)
Why is it so important for Be The Earth that investments are made according to the same principles that drive philanthropic work?
What does it mean to have a “closed loop” model of investing? Is it always straightforward to decide whether to support something as an investment or as a grant? How do you decide in edge cases?
How can donors/funders approach their work with a suitable degree of humility?
How can funders and nonprofits overcome the scarcity mindset themselves, and how can they help the organisations they fund to do so?
Is it helpful to talk about Next Gen philanthropy?
How can philanthropic funders collaborate with each other more effectively
How does Be The Earth use pooled funds as a way of achieving its mission?
Why is convening events and gatherings such an important part of Be The Earth’s work?
What is flow funding and how does it work?
