The Foundation Review embraces #ShiftThePower, with a focus on global community philanthropy

A year on from the first Global Summit on Community Philanthropy in December 2016, the movement to #ShiftThePower continues to grow. The current issue of The Foundation Review (Volume 9: Issue 3 2017), building on pieces of research initiated by the GFCF in advance of the Summit, is dedicated to the global community philanthropy field. Jason Franklin, W.K. Kellogg Community Philanthropy Chair at the Johnson Center for Philanthropy, the guest editor, brings together a broad spectrum of experts and practitioners in the issue, who illustrate the power of the community philanthropy model.

From exploring how to shift from a top down aid approach, to focus on harnessing local assets, cultivating local capacities and building trust amongst different stakeholders to promote durable development, the issue is a valuable contribution to community philanthropy’s growth around the world. With case studies from Russia and Romania in Europe, to Vietnam in Asia and Brazil in Latin America, the journal presents evidence of how local communities around the world are taking control of their own development. It explores how new models of promoting local giving like giving circles are growing, illustrates the links between social movements, human rights and local community organizations, and demonstrates how community philanthropy can even provide the extractives industry an avenue for contributing to community asset management.

The Foundation Review is a peer-reviewed journal of philanthropy, written by and for foundation staff and boards. Research initiated by the GFCF includes Mary Fifield’s ongoing research on large scale assets, Charities Aid Foundation Russia’s research on the growth of community foundations in rural communities across Russia, Susan Wilkinson-Maposa’s article on donor behaviours and Dana Doan’s pioneering work to understand donors to the LIN Center for Community Development in Vietnam. Executive Summaries are available for all of the following articles:

• Analyzing the social value of Bucharest Community Foundation programs: social return on investment. Cristina Vaileanu, M.A., Bucharest Community Foundation 
• Building Vietnamese community philanthropy: understanding the experiences and expectations of donors to the LIN Center for Community Development. Dana R. H. Doan, M.P.P., LIN Center for Community Development
• Community philanthropy in Russian remote areas. Julia Khodorova, Ph.D., and Larisa Avrorina, Charities Aid Foundation Russia
• #ShiftThePower: community giving as a critical consciousness-raising tool. Susan Wilkinson-Maposa, Ph.D., University of St. Andrews, and Bernie Dolley, Ikhala Trust
• The community universal experience: #ShiftThePower or share the power? Graciela Hopstein, Ph.D., Public Interest Management Group
• Thinking big: community philanthropy and management of large-scale assets. Mary Fifield, M.F.A., Kaleidoscope Consulting
• Who benefits from giving circles in the U.S. and the U.K.? Angela M. Eikenberry, Ph.D., University of Nebraska