How change happens (and why your theory of change is probably wrong)

“We have come to a slow and sobering realisation that many of our assumptions about how change happens have been incorrect,” write Philanthropy for Social Justice and Peace (PSJP) staffers Maria Chertok and Chandrika Sahai.

In a February 2025 piece published in Alliance Magazine, Chertok and Sahai say there's a growing awareness within the philanthropic sector of the need to reassess how change is pursued.

They note that while concepts like decolonisation, localisation, and trust-based philanthropy have gained prominence, a significant gap persists between these ideals and their implementation.

To bridge the gap, PSJP initiated a series of dialogues with philanthropic professionals, in which they explored personal, organisational, and systemic experiences of change. Participants shared diverse stories, from personal life adjustments to paradigm shifts in worldview.

“The triggers for these changes have been as varied: children, bereavements, relationships, new jobs, conversations, identity crisis, relocation, war… After five conversations, some lessons are emerging,” they write.

A central theme emerging from these conversations is the importance of creating new models that embody desired values, rather than merely opposing existing systems. Chertok and Sahai quote American futurist Buckminster Fuller, who said:

You never change something by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.

The PSJP dialogues underscored the significance of small, locally rooted actions connected by a shared purpose and values. This approach aligns with the concept of fractals, where patterns repeat at scale, suggesting that interconnected small actions can collectively influence broader systemic change.​

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