About the Initiative

Our Vision

RPA’s Community of Practice will engage funders, philanthropic and community leaders, as well as other partners in the ecosystem in a diverse applied knowledge development program through a convening platform, a global network of peers and experts. Ultimately, members of the Foresight & Futures Community of Practice will build capacity for themselves and the broader philanthropic sector to anticipate the challenges of tomorrow, hone organizational innovation, and create more robust, equitable, and adaptive strategies.

Building Philanthropy’s Foresight Muscle Together

Together, Community of Practice members and partners will:

• gain applied knowledge of the practices of foresight and futures.
• engage in hands-on learning with experts from diverse geographies and sectors.
• build internal foresight and futures capabilities.
• incorporate scenario planning into strategic planning processes.
• co-create and apply innovative foresight frameworks to decision-making, funding practices, and organizational design.

As part of this work, we will tackle the following themes:

• Risk-taking – How do we manage the dynamic of an uncertain future vs. the need to act?
• Aligning capabilities for better foresight and impact – What talent and skills do we need to effectively incorporate foresight & futures into our work?
• Community-driven futures – How do we best center the voices and wisdom of communities in shaping the future, avoid exploitative scenario planning, and shed the colonial mindset for the future?
• Turning on organizational imagination – How do we turn the question of “If we can’t imagine a better future, how can we build it” into a call to action?
• Anticipating the future before it strikes – What models, frameworks, tools, and solutions can we look to as we incorporate elements of foresight and futures into our work?