India, Nov. 26 -- While individual or short-term investments can deliver immediate benefits, they rarely resolve the underlying causes and structural barriers that perpetuate inequity. With collective philanthropy, it becomes more feasible to tackle several aspects of a problem via strategic investments and programme design.

For instance, a siloed approach might fund the construction of a few classrooms and provide furniture to an underfunded village school. While this improves infrastructure in the short term, it does little to tackle deeper barriers such as inadequate teacher training, gender gaps in enrolment, malnutrition, or the absence of sanitation facilities that continue to push children out of school.

A collective philanthropy...