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Foundations have taken a firm but gentle reprimand of late. Within a few days of each other, two staff members of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation - Bob Hughes, its vice president, and Larry Blumenthal, its director of social media strategy - blogged about the reluctance of themselves and their colleagues in the sector to take risks in their grant-making. Blumenthal argued that, in shying away from ambitious initiatives, foundation staff were allowing themselves to be inhibited by "embarrassment and ego"; his contention was that sometimes effective grants can only be made after a process of trial and glorious error. Hughes, for his part, pointed out that some foundations invest so little time and money in goal-setting and evaluation that they didn't actually know whether they were failing in their missions. Although humorously expressed, these were damning indictments.

With participants in our Strong Foundations programme, where we provide training for foundation staff in strategic philanthropy, we often speak of "risk capital"; a phrase that is misleading to some, as to them it conjures images of money being cast towards a waiting drain. But "risk capital" is something very different, and very privileged. It is money that foundations are able to deploy where governments, accountable to its citizens and the tight constraints of its budget, cannot; money that can be spent to nurture innovation, and better ways of working. Crucially, too, it is money that, in the face of considerable odds, is spent with carefully calculated aims. We therefore encourage more foundations to have the courage of their convictions; and join Hughes and Blumenthal in their call. More risk, please.

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