Disrupting and democratising development: community philanthropy as theory and practice

Abstract

Systems of community giving and self-help have always existed within different cultures and traditions around the world. But it is only recently that community philanthropy has started to gain visibility as a specific practice that has relevance to the broader field of international development. In this article, we focus on what community philanthropy looks like as development practice, drawing on examples from a global cohort of 16 organisations that identify with the community philanthropy concept. We define community philanthropy as a value-driven development practice that builds assets, capacities, and trust. In particular, it focuses on the role that local resources can play in community development, and how their presence can help influence power dynamics associated with international development. Ultimately, we show that community philanthropy is not merely emerging as a useful support structure on which mainstream development can build, but that it is far more radical than this. Community philanthropy practised by organisations with their roots in civil society and social justice movements can disrupt and democratise the system and create an alternative to ‘development’ as we know it.

Les systèmes de donations et d’entraide communautaires ont toujours existé dans différentes cultures et traditions de par le monde. Mais ce n’est que récemment que la philanthropie communautaire a commencé à acquérir une visibilité en tant que pratique spécifique revêtant une pertinence pour le domaine plus large du développement international. Dans cet article, nous nous concentrons sur ce qui constitue la philanthropie communautaire en tant que pratique de développement, en nous servant d’exemples émanant d’un groupe mondial de seize organisations qui se reconnaissent dans le concept de philanthropie communautaire. Nous définissons la philanthropie communautaire comme une pratique de développement impulsée par des valeurs et qui développe les biens, les capacités et la confiance. Elle se concentre en particulier sur le rôle que les ressources locales peuvent jouer dans le développement communautaire et sur la manière dont leur présence peut contribuer à influencer la dynamique du pouvoir associée au développement international. Nous démontrons en fin de compte que la philanthropie communautaire n’émerge pas seulement comme une structure de soutien utile sur laquelle peut se fonder le développement classique, mais qu’elle est bien plus radicale que cela. La philanthropie communautaire pratiquée par les organisations émanant de la société civile et de mouvements de justice sociale peut perturber et démocratiser le système et créer une alternative au « développement » tel que nous le connaissons.

En diferentes culturas y tradiciones de todo el mundo los sistemas de donación comunitaria y de autoayuda han existido desde siempre. Empero, solo recientemente la filantropía comunitaria comenzó a adquirir visibilidad como práctica específica relevante para el campo más amplio del desarrollo internacional. En el presente artículo nos enfocamos en cómo se percibe la filantropía comunitaria en cuanto práctica de desarrollo, recurriendo a ejemplos provenientes de una cohorte global de 16 organizaciones que se identifican con el concepto de filantropía comunitaria. En este sentido, definimos la filantropía comunitaria como una práctica de desarrollo basada en valores que generan activos, capacidades y confianza, particularmente centrada en el papel que pueden desempeñar los recursos locales en el desarrollo comunitario y en cómo su presencia puede contribuir a incidir en la dinámica de poder asociada al desarrollo internacional. En última instancia, exponemos que la filantropía comunitaria no opera simplemente como una estructura de apoyo útil sobre la cual puede cimentarse el desarrollo convencional; se trata de una práctica mucho más radical. La filantropía comunitaria desplegada por organizaciones arraigadas en la sociedad civil y los movimientos de justicia social puede perturbar y democratizar el sistema para crear una alternativa al “desarrollo” tal como lo conocemos.

KEYWORDS:

• community philanthropy
• international development practices
• international NGOs
• power
• grassroots

Notes on contributor

Jenny Hodgson is the Executive Director of the Global Fund for Community Foundations. Postal address: 4th Floor, 158 Jan Smuts Ave, Rosebank, Johannesburg, 2196, South Africa. Email: [email protected]

Notes

1 The #ShiftThePower campaign seeks to tip the balance of power away from external agencies in the delivery of development programmes and towards local people. For more information, see https://globalfundcommunityfoundations.org/what-we-stand-for/shiftthepower/.

2 For more information on the 2016 Summit, see https://globalfundcommunityfoundations.org/news/global-summit-on-community-philanthropy-inspires-movement-to/ and www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRBPk6tnkoM.

3 The Global Alliance for Community Philanthropy was a five-year donor alliance made up of six funders (private and public) to strengthen and promote community philanthropy as a global movement. To learn more about the outcomes of the programme, see www.issuelab.org/resource/donors-working-together-the-story-of-the-global-alliance-for-community-philanthropy.html.

4 For more on the agenda of localisation, see https://charter4change.org.

5 The project, which was supported with a grant from the National Lottery Community Fund in the UK, built on a broader body of work (grant-making, technical support, and data collection) by the GFCF over the previous 12 years to deepen understanding of community philanthropy practice and build an evidence base for the work.

6 For more information on GFCF, see www.globalfundcf.org. In its grant-making, the GFCF uses the following broad organisational criteria in terms of the partners with which it works. organisations should possess some or all of these features: (1) serve a particular community, whether geographic-, issue-, or identity-based, and have a governance structure that broadly reflects it; (2) use grant-making as a deliberate development strategy, which devolves power and resources to groups and organisations in the community it serves; (3) work to build a local culture of giving (philanthropy) within the community it serves and a constituency for its work – organisations are already doing it or want to start; (4) have a commitment to progressive social change, including building support for those on the margins of the community – organisations are already doing it or want to start.

7 For more about Tewa and KCDF's origins and purposes, see www.forbes.com/sites/marlenahartz/2017/09/25/how-one-woman-is-challenging-the-status-quo-in-international-aid and www.africanindy.com/opinion/durable-development-time-to-do-things-differently-10110842. For more on the Dalit Community Foundation, see http://dcf.org.in.

8 For more on the story of Frederick Goff and the creation of the Cleveland Foundation, see www.clevelandfoundation100.org/foundation-of-change/invention/introduction/.

9 Indeed, recent events at a high-profile US community foundation, which led to the uncovering of a toxic institutional culture, were very similar to revelations made about large INGOs in the light of #AidToo. See www.philanthropy.com/article/Opinion-Growth-or-Mission-/243383.

10 Leading from the South is a feminist philanthropic fund managed by four leading women's funds in the global South: African Women's Development Fund (AWDF), Fondo de Mujeres del Sur (FMS), International Indigenous Women's Forum (FIMI) / AYNI Fund (AYNI), and Women's Fund Asia (WFA). It is funded through a US$46 million grant from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. See www.leadingfromthesouth.org/about-us.

11 The Grand Bargain refers to an agreement launched during the World Humanitarian Summit in May 2016 between some of the largest donors and aid providers, which aims to get more means into the hands of people in need. For more information, see https://interagencystandingcommittee.org/about-the-grand-bargain.

12 The 16 organisations are: Arkhangelsk Centre for Social Technologies, Garant, Russia (www.ngogarant.ru), Community Development Foundation for Western Cape, South Africa (www.cdfwesterncape.org.za), Community Foundation for the Western Region of Zimbabwe (www.comfoundzim.org), Dalia Association, Palestine (www.dalia.ps), Fasol – Fondo Acción Solidaria A.C., Mexico (www.fasol-ac.org), FemFund, Poland (https://femfund.pl), Forum for Civic Initiatives (FIQ), Kosovo (https://www.fiq-fci.org), Foundation for Social Transformation, India (www.fstindia.org), Instituto Comunitário Grande Florianópolis – ICOM, Brazil (http://www.icomfloripa.org.br), Kenya Community Development Foundation (www.kcdf.or.ke), Keystone Foundation, India (https://keystone-foundation.org), Monteverde Community Fund, Costa Rica (www.monteverdefund.org), Roots and Wings Foundation / Gyökerek és Szárnyak Alapítvány, Hungary (http://gy-sz.hu), Solidarity Foundation, India (www.solidarityfoundation.in), Tewa – Nepal Women's Fund (www.tewa.org.np), and Zambian Governance Foundation for Civil Society (www.zgf.org.zm). One organisation, Tewa, did not participate in the learning group but explored the same learning agenda as part of another partnership with the GFCF.

13 The GFCF developed the Assets, Capacities and Trust (ACT) Framework in 2010 through data collected from 50 organisations (see Hodgson and Knight 2010). Applicants were asked to rank their priorities against a set of bonding, bridging, and linking social capital indicators. For more information, see https://globalfundcommunityfoundations.org/gfcf/resources/more-than-the-poor-cousin-the-emergence-of-community-foundat-html/.