For philanthropy, the challenge is not simply to adapt to a new funding landscape, but to help shape it. By engaging early, collectively and programmatically, foundations can contribute to a European funding architecture that is not only more efficient and results‑oriented, but also more inclusive, grounded and responsive to the needs of people and places.

Community foundations are acknowledging and understanding the pull of the future, addressing the push of the present and living with the weight of the past.

Amid multifaceted crises and global threats to democracy spanning Europe and beyond, prioritising marginalised groups, including women, girls and gender-diverse individuals, has never been more critical.

Gender equality sits at the centre of intensifying political and cultural tensions. Progress continues, yet it unfolds alongside active resistance, public contestation, and policy reversals.

Futures work in philanthropy is allowing us to expand our horizon and move from mere reaction to anticipation – also in times of intersecting crises. However, our approach to foresight needs to be informed by a critical lens that centres community governance, non-extractive relationships building, peripheral knowledge and honours plural realities.