SMU Business Families Institute unveils new framework to drive systems change and lasting philanthropic impact

Singapore, 12 March 2026 (Thursday) – As philanthropic capital grows and expectations for measurable impact intensify, the Singapore Management University (SMU) Business Families Institute (BFI) today unveiled a new framework calling for a fundamental rethink of how philanthropy is designed, funded and evaluated.

Titled The Moonshot Approach to Philanthropy: A Framework From ‘What Ifs?’ to Action, the report, led by SMU’s Associate Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship Kenneth Goh, introduces a disciplined yet ambitious framework to enable philanthropists to support bold, long-horizon solutions capable of delivering sustained, large-scale impact.

Beyond contributing to academic and practitioner discourse, the report, made possible through a research gift from The Chen Yet-Sen Family Foundation (CYSFF), is intended to directly influence philanthropic decision-making by providing funders with a structured way to assess, support and scale initiatives with long-term systems-change potential. By reframing how risk, time horizons and impact are evaluated, the framework aims to help philanthropists and foundations unlock support for underfunded, high-potential initiatives that are often overlooked under traditional funding models, and to encourage more sustained, system-oriented approaches to philanthropic capital deployment.

Read the full press release HERE.