Community philanthropy is still not well known or understood as a development strategy in many mainstream philanthropy and international aid circles. To address this we place great emphasis on building an evidence base. A key part of our work, therefore, involves collecting data, commissioning and conducting research, and working with partners in our networks to consider questions of evidence, measurements and metrics.

The community philanthropy framework, for example, which combines assets, capacities and trust, was informed by data collected from our grantmaking to community foundations, women’s funds, environmental funds and public foundations using social capital indicators and direct experiences at the community level.

Have a look at our Knowledge Centre.