Time to #ShiftThePower? Community philanthropy and durable development

How likely is it that a given organization will facilitate sustainable change? Untold millions of dollars are spent, and untold effort expended, in coordinated attempts to make life better for individuals and communities across the world. Iterative processes of review and reform, global initiatives and flavours of the month in philanthropic giving and development aid all testify that few organizations can claim that their efforts have resulted in truly durable development. The Holy Grail is still out there. This paper considers community philanthropy organizations: a varied range of civil society organizations whose recognition as a category is embryonic, yet which, it shall be argued, are structurally geared to support lasting change in the local communities they serve. This paper examines why this might be.

Authors: Hilary Gilbert, with summary version prepared by Caroline Hartnell

Published by: GFCF

Published: September 2018

Download: ‘Time to #ShiftThePower’ the full version or ‘Time to #ShiftThePower’ the summary version.