Empowering philanthropy’s role in transformative public-private collaboration for a sustainable and socially just future
Public-private-philanthropy partnerships (PPPPs) are a powerful type of multi-stakeholder collaboration. They have the potential to bring about systemic change through a coordinated and synergistic approach to policy and regulation change, innovation, investment in scalable commercial approaches, generating evidence for change, and building new capacities.
Philanthropy can play critical and diverse roles in such partnerships – thereby addressing complex challenges such as energy transition, climate adaptation and mitigation, food security, health, and education.
This programme aims to accelerate good practice and create pathways to action for philanthropy in transformative PPPPs through research, knowledge sharing and exchange, community building, and developing interventions that support the enabling conditions and ecosystem for successful PPPPs.
What are PPPPs for People and Planet?
A long-term multi-stakeholder collaboration in which public, private, and philanthropy sectors align and combine their unique resources and powerful levers to together deliver social, economic, and/or environmental transformation.’
TPI’s working definition of PPPPs includes the following types of collaboration:
- All 3 Ps (public, private, philanthropy) need to be involved and need to have “skin in the game”
- The relationship is formalized (though not necessarily through a legally binding contract)
- The collaboration can involve funding and implementing projects and/or creating blended finance mechanisms
- Geographical scope can include global, regional, national or local levels
- Any kind of thematic area, providing the partnership aims to achieve transformational change for the benefit of people & planet
About the programme
This pioneering programme combines research, knowledge sharing and exchange, direct support to PPPPs, codification of best practice and community building to inform and enable and series of interventions to strengthen the empowering environment for more and better PPPPs.
Progress to date
As an initial phase of a major new programme to accelerate the use of PPPPs, TPI, with the support of Laudes Foundation and the African Climate Foundation and in association with WAPPP, undertook research looking at 46 PPPPs around the world. The aim was to understand how they deliver systems transformation, and the essential role of Philanthropy in injecting the ‘activation energy’ that makes them happen. The report was launched in December 2023 at COP28 and provides fascinating insights into the power and flexibility of PPPPs.
The report includes our newly published PPPP Library, which includes details of all 46 PPPPs analysed, and provides a resource to PPPP practitioners globally.
The next phase of the programme will be to directly support a number of PPPPs, draw out learning from the experience and begin to codify and develop best practice guidance.
Ways to get involved
There are multiple ways to get involved, including (but not limited to!):
Joining the PPPPs network to stay connected
Sharing examples of PPPPs for our research and knowledge base – contribute an example to our new PPPP library
Providing grant funding to support the overarching programme – please contact us
Working with TPI to develop your organisation’s strategic approach to PPPPs and/or to review or create a case study of an existing PPPP that you are involved with/supporting – please contact us
Our collaborators
The programme itself is a collaboration between TPI and The World Association of Public Private Partnership Practitioners and Units (WAPPP) as well as an emerging community of partners including:
The programme is partially funded through the generous support of The African Climate Foundation and Laudes Foundation.
An introduction to PPPPs
PPPP Events & Roundtables
November 2023
The global launch event “Empowering philanthropy’s role in transformative PPPPs” for the findings of our report explored how PPPPs are addressing some of the world’s most complex challenges, the critical roles that philanthropy can play, and the key challenges that need to be overcome to mainstream and accelerate the use of these transformative partnerships.
September 2023
Our second roundtable event, “Public– Private– Philanthropy Partnerships for People and Planet – Meet pioneers of transformative PPPPs” delved deeper into the vital intersection of the public, private, and philanthropy sectors in tackling today’s significant global challenges, including climate change, health crises, food scarcity, digital exclusion, and just transition.
April 2023
To get us started on this journey, we hosted in April the first of what we hope will be a series of virtual sessions to bring together early pioneers of three diverse PPPPs at local, national, and global levels – to share their ideas and examples with a wider audience.
Programme leads
Max von Abendroth, Lead Public-Private-Philanthropy Collaboration at TPI & Chair of the Philanthropy in PPPs Forum at WAPPP – contact
Tom Harrison, Programme Director – contact
Further information
