GFCF Expands its team with a #ShiftThePower focus

#ShiftThePower, the rallying cry behind the 2016 Global Summit on Community Philanthropy, certainly struck a nerve! In the weeks prior to the event, and on the days of, the hashtag (and the messages it stands for) reached a social media audience of more than 37.5 million users. During the Summit itself, #ShiftThePower was impressively trending in Canada, Kenya, as well as South Africa.

Momentum around the #ShiftThePower message has certainly carried over into 2017, popping up in various discussions around the globe. This call to #ShiftThePower (to communities funding aims to serve, away from traditional donor/recipient relationships, to the Global South, etc.) has most recently featured at the Community Foundations of Canada conference in Ottawa, the European Foundation Centre’s annual gathering in Warsaw, as well as in other less expected spaces.   

To capitalize on this momentum, and to continue growing the conversation, the GFCF has just expanded its team to include a part-time #ShiftThePower Platform Coordinator, Shantha Bloemen. Shantha brings to the team two decades of experience in international humanitarian and development assistance, most recently having worked with UNICEF. The GFCF board and staff look forward to working with Shantha around more efforts to #ShiftThePower in 2017 and beyond.