Ecosystem orchestration has become a centre of scholarly attention due to its value creation potential. While most of this emerging literature focuses primarily on business ecosystems from a structural perspective (i.e. the structural alignment between actors), we focus in this study on philanthropic ecosystems from a relational perspective (i.e. the interactional dynamics between actors). We inductively studied the case of an philanthropic ecosystem project in the Global South. We developed a process model that reveals the importance of “territorial stigma” and “stigma strategy” as being central to the ability to orchestrate these types of ecosystems. We show that stigma strategy driven by “impression management” to overcome stigma created a reverse effect by accentuating orchestration challenges. Ecosystem orchestrators were able to address the challenge by reorienting their stigma strategy toward “establishing ownership.” Our findings contribute to advancing the literature on ecosystem, stigma, and societal challenges.
