Community philanthropy is essential for lasting and transformative change

Since 2006, the Global Fund for Community Foundations (GFCF) has accompanied a quiet revolution taking place worldwide, largely beyond the gaze of mainstream philanthropy and development. That quiet revolution is community philanthropy, an emerging development practice and theory that starts with the premise that all communities have assets. In community philanthropy, money is one kind of asset. However, it also emphasises other essential ingredients to achieving effective and lasting development outcomes. These can often elude external funders and INGOs, such as networks and relationships, local knowledge and, most importantly, trust.

Using a combination of small grants, knowledge production and field-building, the GFCF has built a network of organisations and individuals worldwide. They believe that recognising and harnessing local resources and action are an essential strategy for centring community voice and agency and building local power. We typically partner with a variety of grassroots grantmakers, community foundations, women’s funds, socio-environmental funds etc., that are building local cultures of giving and philanthropy. Rather than relying only on external donor aid, they are using small grants to distribute power and resources to grassroots groups to enable them to do things for themselves. Read more