Design, long used to protect institutions, may be philanthropy’s most effective tool for rebuilding trust. Unsplash

Philanthropy, once broadly regarded as a force for civic good, is increasingly now viewed as elitist, opaque and disconnected from the communities it purports to serve. In 2025, that distrust has reached a critical inflection point. On one front, high-profile foundations—especially those funded by controversial mega-donors—have come under intense political scrutiny. Among these, the Open Society Foundations (OSF), funded by George Soros, faced a flurry of allegations and a reported investigation by the U.S. Justice Department; the accountability and transparency of funding by the World Health Organization (WHO) Foundation were questioned; and ClimateWorks Foundation was pressed about alleged top-down funding that sidelines frontline groups. For many members of the public, such headlines confirm suspicions that philanthropy actively wields political and cultural power without mandate. 

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Simultaneously, broader structural pressures have accelerated. In many parts of the world, shrinking public aid and volatile donor funding—often shaped by donor priorities, not local need—have reinforced the perception that philanthropy deepens........

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