Our guest for this episode of FED Dialogues, a private equity investor turned philanthropist, has a neat analogy for how he looks at philanthropy. He’s done the ‘debt’ part of his philanthropy – set up a world-class university where he can see the impact he’s creating. He’s now looking at more ‘equity’ opportunities in  philanthropy. These are causes where the likelihood of success is lower, and attribution for the success, if it happens, is impossible; but where the potential ‘return’ on investments can be massive in terms of positive impact.
 
Ashish Dhawan is the Founder-CEO of The Convergence Foundation (TCF), whose portfolio consists of 13 mission-driven organisations, including FED, that work at the system level to move the needle on complex issues and create impact at scale. Ashish likens this high-risk philanthropy to “not playing defence, but going for the big hit. When it comes to philanthropy, my philosophy is equity 100%. Because I know, when I look at the chart over 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, 50 years, 100 years, you’ve outperformed by a mile.”

Watch the full episode on YouTube.