Even on the grantmaking side, the explicit and implicit norms that govern how they grant money, who they grant it to, how they manage the relationship, and how they measure their success is notoriously traditional and antiquated. Even though their primary purpose is to direct money towards charitable purposes, the vast majority of them only disburse the legal minimum of 5% of their endowments every year, keeping the remaining 95% invested in stocks, bonds, and other assets. Old Power in the Nonprofit Worldįoundations, especially private ones, are bastions of Old Power, dedicated to preserving and extending their power for as long as possible. New Power, on the other hand, uploads it is a generous and dynamic stream of information owned and shared by all, for the betterment of all. Old Power downloads it is “curated” and controlled by one leader or entity who decides what to give and what to keep. It is open, participatory, peer-driven, and collaborative. New Power, on the other hand, is like a current. Almost nine years out, their diagnosis of our society has only become more accurate than ever.Īccording to Heimans and Timms, Old Power is like currency: owned by the few, jealously guarded, inaccessible, top-down, operated through command and control. The framework of Old Power and New Power was developed by Jeremy Heimans and Henry Timms in 2014. The key to navigating these new waters may lie less with throwing out the old and embracing the new, and instead with learning to be fluent in both. It may seem like what is “old” is on the way out and what is “new” is here to stay, but it’s actually more complex than that. We live in a time defined by the growing struggle between Old Power and New Power, two paradigms at odds with each other. One such trend has to do with the shifting shape of power in our world. After working with dozens of clients, we’ve started to see trends and commonalities across sectors. We confront these head-on as we guide our clients through the process of sharpening their positioning and branding. Our role as branding experts in the nonprofit space affords us unique access to the challenges and vulnerabilities organizations wrestle with day in and day out.

It is also a push to question what is good, what is right, and what is necessary in the work of social change. It is a fundamental rethinking of how we run organizations, how they bring value to the world, who gets a seat at the table, and whose voice is consulted and valued.

From cultural institutions, to philanthropies, and grassroots advocacy movements, this is not just a changing of the guard.

We live in an era in which power is shifting from old players to new ones.

New power timms