Trust-Based Philanthropy (TBP) represents a significant evolution in philanthropic practice. Its thought-leaders and practitioners are pioneers who have made an important difference in the impact sector. Their efforts should be applauded, full-stop. 

Despite their best intentions however, too many of the people and organizations who consider themselves part of the movement stop at the water’s edge, and risk creating a real moral hazard by ignoring the fact that: 

Trust must be earned.

Linger on that, and think about what it really means for you and the organizations you represent. 

What’s too-often left out of the conversation, is the fact that rigorous measurement & evaluation, radical transparency, demonstrated competence, and honest scrutiny of alignment, are essential to any Trust-Based approach. 

At Altruous, we believe that rigor and trust create a harmonious Yin-Yang that sets philanthropy and impact generating organizations alike up for long-term success. Central to this philosophy is how we regard Trust-Based Philanthropy, not as a strategy unto itself, but as a set of core values, upon which sophisticated strategies must be built. Our platform creates efficiencies across both sides of the funding process, and provides the tools required to implement the type of supportive accountability techniques that TBP recommends. 

The solid foundation of Trust-Based Philanthropy

Trust-Based Philanthropy, formalized by the Trust-Based Philanthropy Project in 2020, has established itself as a significant departure from traditional donor-centric approaches. The framework rests on six core values: 

• Working for systemic equity

• Redistributing power

• Centering relationships

• Partnering in service

• Maintaining accountability

• Embracing learning

The philosophical foundation is compelling. As the Trust-Based Philanthropy Project explains, the approach "advances a just and equitable society by alleviating the inherent power imbalances between funders, nonprofits, and communities." This represents a fundamental shift from what organizational theorists call "Theory X" (control-based) to "Theory Y" (Trust-Based) management approaches. 

The practical implementation through six grantmaking practices demonstrates measurable benefits. Organizations receiving Trust-Based funding report 74% less employee stress, 106% more energy at work, and 50% higher productivity. MacKenzie Scott's $19.25 billion in unrestricted grants to 2,450+ organizations since 2019 has shown that 53% of recipient organizations found fundraising easier after receiving her support, enabling them to leverage large unrestricted gifts for additional funding.

The difference these innovators have made in the impact sector is massive, and they deserve every bit of the recognition their work has received. However, like most powerful movements their efforts have had unintended consequences as well. 

Trust without rigor is reckless

How can one tell when an organization is worthy of trust? 

How can we identify trustworthy organizations whose marketing has yet not broken through the din of cause marketing messages?

As well-intentioned as practitioners of TBP may be, blind trust is an abdication of responsibility. It creates blindspots that risk serious consequences for the vulnerable populations they aim to support. 

The cautionary tales are instructive. The Moore Charitable Foundation lost $25 million to Wall Street fraudster Andrew Caspersen due to inadequate due diligence. The Call of Duty Endowment's early Trust-Based approach yielded "decidedly lackluster" results, taking four years to place just 1,000 veterans in jobs at costs comparable to inefficient government programs. Only after shifting to rigorous performance metrics did they achieve placing 125,000 veterans at nearly a 95%  lower cost-per-outcome.

The Trust-Based community is not alone in making these types of missteps. The leaders of Effective Altruism, known for its extremely deep research and analysis have been known to trust the wrong people as well, which has led to tremendous reputational damage. 

These examples highlight a crucial distinction: trust must be earned through demonstrated competence and context-based research, not granted based on relationships, assumptions, or the opinions of an uninformed crowd. The lives of the world’s most vulnerable people are at stake, and mistakes can have far more dire consequences for them than for those who aren’t reliant on nonprofit services. The challenge lies in creating accountability mechanisms that support rather than undermine trust-based relationships.

“It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so.”

- American Proverb*

It’s worth noting that trust without rigor creates a different kind of blind spot as well - the blind spot of missed opportunity. With year-over-year grant renewals north of 90%, it’s obvious that new, innovative, and high-potential organizations are being overlooked. Their programs often represent revolutionary approaches to solve our most important challenges, but haven’t yet broken through enough to win the funding they need to test and bring their solutions to the populations that need them. A little bit of rigor goes a long way towards identifying these opportunities that a purely Trust-Based approach just won’t uncover. 

Research as a trust-building mechanism

Contrary to traditional assumptions, rigorous research can actually strengthen trust-based relationships when implemented thoughtfully. The Headwaters Foundation demonstrates this through their Learning and Evaluation Data Book, which maintains research rigor while eliminating traditional power dynamics.

Transparency through data sharing builds rather than undermines it. Research shows that organizations sharing detailed financial information, are transparent with their impact data, and work with 3rd-party evaluators receive significantly more contributions than those that don’t. GiveDirectly's approach of publishing independent evaluation results (both positive and negative) has built their reputation as a trustworthy and effective organization - it’s part of why they’re seen as a better option than the similar, yet better-known Kiva in more data-focused circles.

The Ford Foundation's BUILD program provides compelling evidence. By prioritizing evaluation and transparency, they were able to nearly double the percentage of gifts that went to unrestricted funding - nearly 2x, from 36% to 70% - a real indication of increased trust. What would your organization do with that much more discretion over how funds are spent?

The bottom line is that organizations that focus on rigorous evaluation and transparency report being able to focus more on their mission rather than board servicing, while maintaining a strong foundation of evidence-backed impact.

The difference between surveillance and supportive accountability

Another key insight from our research is the distinction between two fundamentally different approaches to accountability. Traditional oversight often becomes surveillance - what TBP advocates criticize as nonprofits spending "an inordinate amount of time on funder-driven applications and reports, which can distract them from their mission-critical work." The same is true for overly funder-centric grantmaking and giving. When organizations become too deferential to their funders, regardless of their levels of expertise, mission-creep, misalignments, and staggering inefficiencies result.

Supportive accountability, by contrast, focuses on mutual learning and relationship building. Supportive accountability is about working smarter, with constant innovation, and a relentless pursuit of efficiency throughout the grantmaking process. It’s about doing the rigorous research up front and building relationships with the people delivering the impact. It’s about filtering out the noise and streamlining the process of researching, funding, and impact reporting, so that both sides can focus on maximizing the depth and quality of their impact.

Altruous helps funders operationalize Trust-Based principles

Altruous delivers on this promise of Trust-Based Philanthropy by creating a true meritocracy of impact, based on the validity of theories of change and the quality and depth of the impact, and by removing unnecessary impediments to discovery, research, funding, and reporting. 

We call our approach High-Integrity Philanthropy.

We strive to take the best of what Trust-Based Philanthropy, Effective Altruism, and other leading modalities have to offer, combine them with actual lessons learned from deep experience operating social impact organizations, and delivering elegant tools that are effective, and a joy to use. 

All of our evaluations are independent and objective, but are created in collaboration with the organizations in order to ensure accuracy, identify open questions, and understand context and extenuating circumstances. This methodology helps us validate nonprofit expertise, effectiveness, and resilience, while maintaining evaluation independence. Our evaluation work is as objective as possible, but we wholeheartedly embrace subjectivity by allowing our clients to determine which cause areas, regions, and attributes they care about most, and making specific recommendations in alignment with that. 

Altruous is specifically designed to align and mobilize diverse sets of stakeholders, and deliver on the principles of supportive accountability that underpin Trust-Based philanthropy. We’re proud of the lengths we go through to make sure these features are fun, intuitive, delightful to use, and help everyone operate more efficiently than they ever thought possible. 

Moreover, and allow us to get on our soapbox for just a moment here, the impact sector just deserves better tech. For far too long, our sector has accepted crappy technology that promises to help them achieve their missions, but generally speaking is buggy, inefficient, and unpleasant to use. It’s frustrating to see so many great organizations settle for so much less than they can and should have at their disposal.On a more practical level, those that fail to demand more from their technology providers are at a serious disadvantage to those that do - and their employees and their constituents suffer. Investment in quality products that solve business challenges, increase efficiency, and are easy to use is more than a luxury, it’s essential. OK, rant over.

Navigating the eye of the storm

It’s rare in life to have full clarity about transformational moments while we’re in them, but surely these are unprecedented times. Many nonprofits were just starting to embrace cloud-based technology when they were hit with the sudden advent of generative AI, the largest generational wealth transfer in the history of philanthropy, economic uncertainty, and a federal government that seems intent on destroying the sector, basically all at the same time. However, if you’re reading this you’re probably already well aware of the challenges these convergent factors represent, and you’re doing your best to navigate these trying times with purpose, determination, and grit. 

Make no mistake, this is a sea change, and those organizations that embrace the changes and invest in innovation will thrive. Those that choose not to will suffer, and risk being left behind.

The next evolution of philanthropic practice lies not in choosing between trust and accountability, but in implementing both more effectively. 

High-Integrity-Philanthropy is about raising the bar - demanding excellence and accountability, while removing obstacles and unnecessary bureaucracy. It’s about finding the right people addressing the right challenges in the right way, and building a trusting relationship with them that’s aligned and maximizes the value created for all involved. It’s about growing, learning, and doing what’s right - rather than following the status quo and delivering on low expectations just because you can.

The leading organizations of tomorrow will be those that recognize trust must be continuously earned through authentic relationships, transparent communication, and evaluation work that helps organizations continuously improve, in addition to satisfying funder demands. Given how hard folks in our sector are working, how difficult their jobs can be, and how vulnerable many of the populations are in which they work, it’s a moral and operational imperative. Fortunately, if this sounds daunting or outside of your organizational capacity, we assure you this absolutely is feasible. With ongoing advancements in AI, legions of purpose-driven consultants, advisors, and learning & evaluation professionals, and platforms like Altruous having your back, High-Integrity Philanthropy has never been easier to achieve.

Editor’s Note: Some readers might recognize the “It ain't what you don't know…” quote as a Mark Twain original. After all, he’s the commonly-attributed author across much of the internet, pop culture, and (very ironically as it turns out) some Hollywood movies. However, no tangible evidence exists that he ever said it. Rather, the general sentiment was commonly expressed by many American humorists. Twain did make similar statements, but so did other notables, including Josh Billings, Artemus Ward, Kin Hubbard, and Will Rogers. Kinda proves our point, don’t ya think?

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Altruous helps social good organizations operate more effectively and efficiently, by streamlining every aspect of the grantmaking process, from discovery & vetting, to payments and impact reporting. Our platform provides the research and analysis needed to move from traditional charity to strategic social investment. Contact us at impact@altruous.org to learn more, and continue the conversation. We’d love to hear from you.

Original Twain portrait by A.F. Bradley