So far, INSP’s approach has mainly involved bringing together experts on philanthropy in four working groups. The task for these groups was to go through a process of self-organization and come up with a work plan. This produced what one might call a ‘catalogue of topics’. From now on, members will work intensively in small thematic groups on aspects of philanthropy that have been identified as essential for making the foundation field more strategic. If 2002 was the ‘year of ideas’ for INSP, 2003 will be the ‘year of products’.

The working group approach was appropriate at the beginning of the INSP project when the whole concept of peer learning and peer exchange on an international level was relatively new in the world of philanthropy. Now that the creative and innovative ideas for making philanthropy more strategic generated during 2002 are starting to be transformed into products and messages to our field, the time is right for a change of approach.