WHY CIVIC SCIENCE PHILANTHROPY?

Amid urgent challenges across society—including pandemics, climate emergencies, and the rise of gene editing and generative artificial intelligence—a growing number of philanthropic funders recognize the need for new approaches to support science and technology to benefit humanity. As emerging science and technology advance rapidly, they raise questions that are not just technical but require tapping into a full array of tools—including approaches from ethics, communication, community engagement, social science, and policy—as well as proximity to the people most affected to help frame problems and solutions. Beyond immediate applications, a thriving ecosystem of discovery science also depends on strengthening bonds between science and technology, diverse communities, and democratic systems to create the seeds of new knowledge. The civic science funding community is coming together to support the development of new language, approaches, relationships, knowledge, and action to advance a future where all people can shape science to expand its benefits and horizons.

A CONSTELLATION OF NORTH STARS

Rather than a single unified goal, it can be helpful to consider a constellation of North Stars for civic science philanthropy.* We each have different areas of focus, expertise, relationships, and aspiration—yet working in dialogue and collaboration, we can each become more effective and aware of the broader ecosystem.

As a few examples, members of our network are working to catalyze:

• A thriving future of science – reshaping academic science culture and practice to strengthen discovery and broaden benefits to society.
• Increased community agency in science – so more communities can shape science and use it to address their priorities.
• More inclusive and connected institutions – creating new models in science, philanthropy, and public engagement that emphasize collaborative co-designing.
• A greater shared sense of belonging – working toward deep engagement to transform the culture of science and address harm.
• A stronger role for science in civil society – so decision-makers at many levels, from local communities to nations, can use scientific evidence and tools to benefit humanity.
• Strengthened incentives and norms for civic science – including training and support for engagement across scientists, ethicists, and community members throughout the research process.
• More accessible knowledge – so science and the tools of science are tools for all.

Amid these goals, our network is also advancing a variety of areas of research and innovation. The Civic Science Fellows program offers a window into some of these areas of focus, with current interdisciplinary streams and topical clusters encompassing:

• Diverse Intelligences, including neuroscience and artificial intelligence
• Changing Ecosystems, including civic science media, climate, and polarization and trust
• Practice of Science, including policy interfaces, equitable and diverse inclusion, and racial equity in clinical equations

By bringing together diverse perspectives across traditional boundaries of fields and sectors, civic science funders are helping to address underlying challenges in a variety of interrelated fields. This follows research in a variety of areas, including science communication, public engagement with science, participatory and community science, STEMM equity, bioethics, evidence-informed policy, and open science, finding a need for boundary-spanning action, knowledge, and capacity.

*The idea of a civic science constellation emerged from an in-person meeting of the Civic Science Fellows network at the National Academy of Sciences in 2023, with strategic facilitation support from ORS Impact.

FRAMEWORKS

We continually work to capture and refine language and tools that we find to be helpful in shaping new approaches to civic science grantmaking and collaboration. As an early example, many of us have found a helpful framework in the Pillars of Civic Science Learning, developed by the Practice and Science of Civic Science Advisory Committee in partnership with the Civic Science Fellows network. These pillars can inspire reflection around what we seek to learn through our philanthropy, as well as prompt questions to ask at each stage of program design.

The Pillars of Civic Science Learning

• Understanding science in context – Examining science as a way of seeking knowledge, looking at the societal factors that influence its contours and application, and grappling with the ethics of decision-making related to science
• Designing for equity and inclusion – Working to understand and identify approaches to combat structural factors that lead science, science engagement, and decision-making around science to benefit and include some social groups over others
• Communicating for the future – Developing the knowledge, tools, and skills to effectively open lines of connection between science and individual and community priorities, values, curiosity, and ways of knowing
• Scaffolding for learning and impact – Exploring ways of building knowledge, methods of engagement, paths toward change, and evaluation frameworks to help guide each stage of civic science project development
• Leading for systems change – Cultivating approaches individuals and teams can adopt to spark civic science change at the level of structures, culture, networks, and norms

Additional frameworks are now under co-development, and we look forward to sharing more here in the future.

INSIGHTS

Here we share a few voices from our network offering perspectives to help inform and inspire civic science philanthropy. We will add to these as conversations continue to develop. Please also explore the resources below for a wealth of other insights and tools.

The Importance of Civic Science for the Future of Science

• “We need to have this conversation to walk into an area of science that can be transformative for society and human health with eyes wide open, with some consideration already made. … The ultimate outcome could be that the science moves faster, not slower, faster if we implement these opportunities.”
  – Paola Arlotta, Chair, Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology and Golub Family Professor of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, Harvard University
  
  

• “The first scientific revolution gave us a set of tools that transformed human potential. The next scientific revolution will ensure those tools better realize that potential for all of humanity.”
  – Elizabeth Christopherson and Sam Gill. Elizabeth Christopherson is President and CEO of the Rita Allen Foundation, and Samsher (Sam) Singh Gill is president and CEO of the Doris Duke Foundation.

Connections Across Boundaries Are Key

• “For organizations funding scientific research or technology development, consider including criteria in your application evaluations that assess how research teams address potential ethical or societal issues. Evaluate how teams plan to explore or address these issues in collaboration with ethicists or by incorporating perspectives from relevant communities. While this might resemble the broader impacts statement found in federal funding proposals, the goal is to move beyond general statements and substantively consider how the work may impact or benefit individuals, communities, and society, whether intentionally or unintentionally.”
  – Caroline Montojo, President and Chief Executive Officer, Dana Foundation
  
  

• “We, as scientists, artists, administrators, etc., are tasked with addressing the most pressing challenges in society, so we need to foster a scientific community that centers diverse perspectives and ways of knowing. By amplifying creativity, play, and transdisciplinary work across all areas, we can establish the connections, create the conversations, and collaborate on solutions to take meaningful action.”
  – Louis J. Muglia, President and Chief Executive Officer, Burroughs Wellcome Fund
  
  

• “New perspectives emerge from more than a single dominant vantage point. They emerge from disagreements and diverse ways of looking at the world. Reconciling those differences is not always easy or comfortable. But that’s what (civic) science is: going beyond our comfort zones.”
  – Dietram A. Scheufele, Taylor-Bascom Chair in Science Communication and Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor, University of Wisconsin–Madison
  
  

• “Being part of this community is so critical. That’s where the best kinds of work can come—where we listen from each other, we learn from each other.”
  – Brooke Smith, Director, Science and Society, The Kavli Foundation

Expanding the Conversation

• “It’s important to realize who isn’t in the room. And how can we make sure that we’re not only listening to but actively seeking perspectives and ideas as well as leadership. We need to be much bigger than our own perspectives and our own networks.”
  – Janet Coffey, Program Director, Science, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation

• “Civic science in my mind is a bedrock of our government. It is building with not for people. It is looking at both qualitative and quantitative methods to better understand. It’s easy to run fast with a small group of people. It’s much harder to engage with people experiencing the harms, or people who operate outside of your own worldview.”
  – Stephanie Nguyen, 2020–21 Consumer Reports Civic Science Fellow, Chief Technology Officer, Federal Trade Commission

• “My advice is to approach each conversation with an open and curious mind, to listen and consider new perspectives, and to see this space as one where we can actively be that difference that we want to see in how science and society connect.”
  – Shannon Dosemagen, 2020–21 Open Environmental Data Project Civic Science Fellow; 2021–23 Host Partner; Director, Open Environmental Data Project

• “When you add the word ‘civic’ to ‘science,’ you put in the missing piece for science as it serves the public. You’re making the connections that help scientists better serve their communities with their research. And why do we need it now? There are challenging, multidisciplinary, strident issues of the day, from climate change to public health to how to incorporate AI, where the answers aren’t always what the science says—the answers are what we decide to do as a community. And that’s where the civic comes in.”
  –Mariette DiChristina, Dean of the College of Communication at Boston University and former Editor-in-Chief of Scientific American

APPROACHES AND EXAMPLES

Civic science philanthropy emphasizes seeding relationships, investing in innovative prototypes, and catalyzing institutional and systemic change—especially for emerging science and technology.

Here we highlight a few of many examples of philanthropic efforts applying these approaches to support civic science change. We would love to hear about your exemplars—please share them at civicscience@ritaallen.org.

RESOURCES

This selection of resources can serve as a starting point for philanthropies seeking to further inform their civic science practice. These resources also include links to many others in a growing web of knowledge and support. We welcome suggestions for additional resources via civicscience@ritaallen.org.

CONNECT WITH US

We invite funders interested in joining in conversations with the Civic Science Funders Collaborative to reach out at civicscience@ritaallen.org. Anyone interested in staying in touch with the growing civic science network can subscribe to our newsletter, the Civic Science Series. We look forward to learning together.