We ignored the diseases that have overtaken its spirit and infected its power.
The Charitable Question, R.I.P.?
Democratizing Philanthropy Through Community Foundations – Part 3
Community foundations often say they want to be “the community’s foundation,” emphasizing an egalitarian hope for their institution’s ability to involve people from all income brackets. Related concepts are democratized philanthropy, community philanthropy, and participatory philanthropy. My first post in this series looked at potential underlying goals and tools. My second post outlined two primary [...]
Democratizing Philanthropy Through Community Foundations – Part 2
In my last post, I looked at three definitions of the phrase democratizing philanthropy: 1) expanding and connecting the base, 2) expanding access to the establishment, and 3) redistributing philanthropic power and ownership. All three definitions could describe a community foundation’s hope to be “the community’s foundation.” There are two related terms worth noting, both [...]
Democratizing Philanthropy Through Community Foundations – part 1
Thanks to my consulting work for the National Center for Family Philanthropy and Ekstrom Alley Clontz & Associates, I’ve been spending more time tuned into the field of community foundations. I still hear variations on the phrase “we want to be the community’s foundation.” This core value of democratized, accessible, community-owned, philanthropy dates to the [...]
