Attracting the World: Reflecting on Soft Power and Cultural Philanthropy
On 10 October 2025, The Cultural Philanthropy Foundation hosted a symposium in partnership with the Delfina Foundation at the Warburg Institute in London. Attracting the World: A Symposium on Soft Power, Purpose and the Politics of Persuasion brought together leading figures from across culture, philanthropy, business, and policy to explore culture’s evolving role in shaping the UK’s domestic and international influence.
How does culture hold influence in a world increasingly shaped by technology, geopolitics and the climate emergency? And how can philanthropy and cultural leadership help the UK continue to “attract the world” - not only as a creative hub, but as a force for empathy, imagination and change? These were the questions at the heart of the symposium; across four panels and a keynote provocation, participants considered the shifting nature of soft power and the future of philanthropy, purpose, and persuasion in turbulent times.
We’re recapping the day here to share the key takeaways from what was a rich and stimulating day of discussions. As the symposium was conducted under Chatham House rules to encourage candid conversation, reflections here are anonymised.
Soft power in transition
The day began with a provocation from an international soft power expert who described how the balance of influence is changing. They defined what we actually mean by soft power, a term coined by political scientist Joseph Nye Jr. in the 1980s, referring to a country’s ability to influence others through its values, culture, and ideals rather than coercion or force.
In the twentieth century, the speaker posited, culture, heritage and tourism were the primary engines of soft power - tools through which nations projected identity and values abroad. Today, however, this is less commonly the frame of reference and credibility on the international stage increasingly stems from scientific and technological prowess.
This, the speaker argued, represents both a challenge and an opportunity for the arts. The divide between what novelist and chemist C. P. Snow called the “two cultures” - of science and of the humanities - risks leaving the arts marginalised in debates about progress. Unless those worlds reconnect, we were told, we risk a future defined by “technical dominance without heart.”
The answer, our speaker suggested, lies in alliance: building a new contract between science and culture in which each informs the other. South Korea was held up as an example of this synthesis - a country whose global reach spans both K-pop and cutting-edge technology. For the cultural sector, the message was clear: its soft power will increasingly depend on collaboration, evidence and adaptability, as much as creativity itself.
Philanthropy and the soft power of generosity
The morning’s first panel explored how philanthropy might underpin this new cultural contract. Panellists from across the charitable and foundation sectors reflected on the UK’s long-standing reputation as a home for philanthropy - thanks to its rule of law, financial infrastructure and global language - while also acknowledging the barriers that constrain giving.
Participants spoke of a fragmented ecosystem, with too little alignment between publicly-funded culture and private giving, and between the non-profit and commercial creative sectors. Shifts in tax policy, specifically the new rules around non-doms, a lack of data, a cultural ambivalence towards wealth and a rise in nationalist rhetoric were all cited as factors that hold back ambition.
Yet there was optimism, too. Our panel applauded a new generation of philanthropists eager to make impact part of their identity. The government’s forthcoming strategy on impact philanthropy was welcomed as a potential catalyst for change, providing it can link large-scale giving to place-based, local benefit. The challenge, one participant suggested, is not an absence of generosity but a lack of conduits: the mechanisms that connect wealth to need.
New horizons for giving
Picking up the theme of connection, younger philanthropists and cultural entrepreneurs shared how they are reimagining the act of giving itself in our next panel. For them, philanthropy is less about bestowing gifts and more about building ecosystems - platforms that connect people, ideas and resources across borders.
Speakers described initiatives that are bridging the gap between cultural curiosity and active patronage, from curatorial exchange programmes to digital platforms helping younger givers support institutions whose missions align with their values. Research shared during the session suggested that almost 80% of younger art collectors and donors now choose where to give based on an organisation’s purpose and ethics.
London’s continued magnetism, in part due to its extraordinary diversity as a truly global city, was a recurring theme. Despite economic uncertainty, the city remains a nexus for international philanthropy, cross-cultural conversation, and creative collaboration. But if the UK is to strengthen its soft power, participants argued, it must simplify the bureaucratic barriers to support and make it easier to invest beyond the capital and nurture creative ecosystems across the country.
Bridging sectors: the ecosystem in action
In the afternoon, we turned from theory to example and explored how culture, philanthropy, and business can work together to strengthen the wider ecosystem. Our first afternoon discussion examined the relationship between the commercial and non-profit cultural sectors. Speakers from galleries, art fairs and cultural advisory firms emphasised that each depends on the other - a thriving public arts infrastructure benefits the market, just as a dynamic market supports experimentation and talent development in the subsidised space.
However, there was concern that public discourse around culture remains too narrowly focused on large, often London-based organisations. Several contributors pointed out that small, locally-rooted organisations often deliver extraordinary cultural and social impact but rarely feature in national soft power narratives. Greater collaboration between government, cultural institutions and the private sector was seen as essential to ensuring that the UK’s cultural diplomacy reflects the full spectrum of its creative life.
Culture, philanthropy and the climate crisis
The final discussion of the day turned to perhaps the most urgent moral test of soft power: the climate emergency. Panellists from across the culture, heritage and philanthropic sectors discussed how culture can mobilise public engagement on climate through its imaginative power. Our chair began by quoting the great Indian novelist Amitav Ghosh who in his 2016 book The Great Derangement wrote:
“Let us make no mistake: the climate crisis is also a crisis of culture, and thus of the imagination”
Several observed that, while the arts have long excelled at inspiring empathy and awareness, they remain underrepresented in climate discussions. Others argued that the environment is too often framed as a technical or operational issue focused on the sustainability of buildings and touring, rather than a creative and narrative one. Facts alone have not driven change, though stories might.
Culture’s greatest soft power, they suggested, lies in its ability to make complexity felt - to open-up discussion and return agency to our audiences. From artists reimagining protest to philanthropists investing in narrative change, the intersection of art and climate emerged as a critical frontier for future collaboration.
Conclusions: soft power with purpose
In the closing reflections, it was noted that the three organisations behind the symposium - the Delfina Foundation, the Cultural Philanthropy Foundation and the Warburg Institute, each in their own way a practitioner of cultural exchange - embody the potential of soft power grounded in purpose.
Participants cautioned against reducing culture’s impact to metrics or GDP figures. Influence is not only measured in economic terms but in trust, understanding and the capacity to imagine better futures. Philanthropy likewise is a personal act, and relies on personal connection. And the practical barriers to philanthropy - regulatory, cultural and infrastructural - were seen as limiting not only generosity, but the UK’s wider influence on the global stage.
A final reminder came that soft power is not just a London story. In an age defined by polarisation and planetary crisis, there was, as one speaker noted, an abundance of goodwill and opportunity just waiting to be harnessed. The UK’s cultural soft power may yet prove its most enduring resource, but if we wish to sustain and grow our global influence, we must invest in creativity across the UK, and in the civic pride and participation that sustain it.