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"Impact philanthropy," an approach being developed through the project "Trust and Impact: Advancing Innovative Funding Practices in Japan" — a joint initiative of the United States-Japan Foundation (USJF) and the Japan Impact Institute, operated by the Japan Fundraising Association — was featured in the August 2026 issue of Forbes Japan. Impact philanthropy serves as the central concept in a 10-page feature on emerging trends in philanthropy.
Based on ongoing research within the project, impact philanthropy is defined, as a working hypothesis, as a philanthropic approach that strategically designs resources and relationships with clear intent toward social change, and increases the likelihood of achieving that change through continuous learning, grounded in the following four core characteristics:
- Intentionality: Holding clear intent toward social change
- Design: Designing resources and relationships to realize impact
- Learning: Learning under conditions of uncertainty
- Leverage: Engaging diverse actors and resources to broaden change
The project, a three-year initiative that received USJF funding in 2025, draws on diverse practices in impact-oriented philanthropy in the United States and Japan to provide insights adapted to the Japanese context, with the aim of advancing Japan's culture of giving. It engages foundations, corporations, and high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) to promote flexible, collaborative, and impact-driven funding, while developing guides and case studies to expand the range of actors engaged in these practices.
The feature of this concept in Forbes Japan, which reaches a wide readership, marks a significant step toward the concept's wider adoption in Japan's philanthropic sector. USJF will continue to advance this project, along with its broader efforts to support the development of Japan's philanthropic sector.
