Passing in the Dark: Making Visible Philanthropy’s Hidden and Conflicting Mental Models for Systems Change

“The increasing focus on systems change has been a paradigm shift, fundamentally affecting how foundations approach social change, their underlying assumptions, and their ideas about the predictability of change… This perspective has required changes in philanthropic practices and led foundations to see themselves as actors in, and influencers of, systems… But as strategists and evaluators, we see many foundations ignoring some basic truths.” The authors propose that there are two mental models of systems change at play: ‘Systems Dynamics’ (familiar, predictable) and ‘Systems Emergence’ (unfamiliar, experimental), which they explore by outlining examples of strategies that use each one, offering tools for making them practical. They conclude that “neither of the systems-change mental models is inherently better,” but “if we do not make our models visible and align our practices to them, then unintentional disconnects will occur and our work will suffer.”