Jonathan Simmons, CEO of New Philanthropy Capital, challenged the island to rethink its approach to funding during his keynote address at the Association of Guernsey Charities’ annual conference.
Mr Simmons, who has more than 25 years’ experience working across business and social impact organisations, said understanding where charitable donations were coming from was key to making better use of the island’s wealth.
‘We don’t know how much philanthropy is going on in Guernsey from the wealth holders of the island,’ he said.
‘We don’t know who the wealth holders are who back certain issues or certain causes, and so we can’t bring them together.’
He questioned whether Guernsey’s reputation for generosity could be measured without reliable figures.
‘You have no data to back that up.’
Mr Simmons joined NPC as CEO in November 2024. The UK-based charity, think tank and consultancy works with philanthropists, charities, businesses and government to help ensure funding achieves meaningful social impact.
He said the generational transfer of wealth was changing the way philanthropists donate. Younger wealth holders ‘think differently’, he said, and tended to be more interested in solving wider problems, rather than supporting particular organisations.
‘Those people who have a million pounds now care about impact way above how much they care about organisations,’ he said.
‘They don’t say, “Well, I’ve been supporting this charity for the last 50 years”.
‘They’re saying, “who has the most impact?”’
That shift in attitude, he said, made collaboration – and even mergers – increasingly important.
‘If funders see five charities that do the same thing, they think that’s a problem.’
Rather than competing for donations, he said he would encourage charities, groups and funders to fight for a cause together.
‘The biggest priority is mounting need,’ he said.
‘It’s very difficult if you run a charity to get past the fact that your demand for your service is going up and you haven’t got enough money. But the danger is we fixate on that, and not on the fact that this issue is a systemic issue.
‘We need to ask ourselves – “What is the problem we are trying to solve, and can we bring together people that care about that problem?” That will always be my key message.’