Based on the book, “Uncharitable,” by Dan Pallotta, which became one of the most talked-about TED talks of all time—changing everything from charity watchdog standards to the giving practices of America’s biggest foundations — UnCharitable follows the stories of four iconic American charitable efforts that were crippled or destroyed by old ideas.

Step-by-step, and with a chorus of leading voices in the field, the movie shows how charity’s real power has been misunderstood and undermined by anachronistic ideas about frugality and deprivation and takes the viewer on a journey from sack-cloth and ashes to a place where unleashed, charities can play the leading role in creating an unimaginably beautiful world that works for everyone.

No topic is more crucial or timelier as we confront a world with increasingly complex problems, with the least of us left behind, and with the growing revelation that we are all interconnected and that our fate lies in our willingness to turn away from old ideas that have not worked and embraced radically new ones that can.