Connecting Research and Practice for Global Community Philanthropy 

Background

Community philanthropies have been among the fastest growing institutional forms of giving around the globe. Between 2000 and 2010, the most common type - community foundations - grew by 86% with an average of 70 institutions created every year. Today, there are over 1,800 place-based foundations around the world granting more than US$5 billion annually and almost three quarters are less than 25 years old. This growth has been dramatic, but research and evaluation to inform and improve the field has not kept pace. 

Project Overview

While there have been sporadic studies of community foundations, the opportunities for deeper and more widespread research are dramatic. The Global Fund for Community Foundations (GFCF) and the WK Kellogg Community Philanthropy Chair at the Johnson Center for Philanthropy are therefore excited to have launched a new joint initiative aimed at connecting research and practice to advance the field of global community philanthropy. Results of research conducted over 2016 will also be fed into the programme of the Global Summit on Community Philanthropy. 

2016 Research Grants

A total of 13 projects have received funding support in this round. The following list offers a brief description of each project, and indicates the host organization undertaking or facilitating the research.

Organizations

• Community Foundation of Odorheiu Secuiesc (Romania), understanding local donor motivations for collective giving in urban Romania.
• Dalia Association (Palestine), learning from global best practices on governance and decision-making among womens’ funds for application in Palestine.
• Proyecto ELLAS – Mujeres y Filantropia at Centro de Estudios de Estado y Sociedad (Argentina / Uruguay), growing local philanthropy and constituencies to address gender-based violence in Argentina.
• Global Greengrants (US), Southern funders’ response to the closing space for civil society.
• Headwaters Foundation for Justice (US), growing cross-race, cross-class giving in the United States: what lessons do Giving Projects offer community philanthropy?
• Kilimani Project Foundation (Kenya), middle class, public interest impulses and active citizenship in Africa – a case study of the Kilimani neighbourhood in Nairobi, Kenya.
• Ngaatho Community Foundation (Kenya), traditional philanthropy and its potential to influence community giving in the 21st century: the case for Kikuyu in Kenya.
• PACT Foundation (Romania, Czech Republic and Serbia), growing individual giving: learning from experiences in Serbia, Czech Republic and Romania.
• Puerto Rico Community Foundation (Puerto Rico), mapping corporate giving of multinational corporations in comparison to profits made in Puerto Rico.
• Southern African Community Grantmakers Leadership Forum (South Africa), leadership in community philanthropy, including succession: networks, community grantmakers, community based structures. 

Individuals

• Santosh Samal (India), exploring community philanthropy’s added in values in building local leadership within highly marginalized communities in India.
• Andres Thompson (Brazil), building social justice philanthropy in Brazil.
• Susan Wilkinson Maposa (South Africa), community philanthropy in the era of back donor diversification: a first look at the African continent.