Grantee profiles

LIN Center, Vietnam

Grantee profile

LIN Center, Vietnam: promoting a new culture of giving in Vietnam

The LIN Center for Community Development, Vietnam, was established in 2009 with the aim of fostering a culture of philanthropy and supporting the development of a strong, credible and professional non- profit sector. The organization’s founders, who include a core group of Vietnamese professionals working in the finance sector, were concerned with the growing levels of inequality associated with Vietnam’s transition to a market-based economy. This was becoming particularly evident in urban contexts like Ho Chi Minh City, where LIN is based, and which has seen increased levels of inward migration from rural areas in recent years. Over the past few years, LIN has developed a diverse programme of work which volunteering (particularly among young professionals), corporate philanthropy, capacity building of local non-profit organizations and mapping of local philanthropy. In addition, LIN has provided small grants of up to $1,500 to local organizations to support their activities, involving community members as volunteer evaluators.

In 2011, the GFCF awarded LIN a grant of $11,900 to introduce a new version of its small grants programme designed to promote social justice while mobilizing broader public involvement with – and support to – local non-profit organizations. LIN invited local organizations to present project ideas for a small grants programme on issues affecting migrant workers and their families. For the first time, LIN facilitated broader community involvement in the grantee selection process by means of a public vote, including votes by the target beneficiaries. Short-listed project ideas were presented at LIN’s regular “Networking for a cause: community grant” event which attracted an audience of 150 people. Two grants were awarded: one to provide vocational training for migrant male children who are vulnerable to exploitation and abuse and the second to provide vocational training for migrant children with disabilities.

Five months after the grants were disbursed, the two grantee organizations were invited to present updates on their projects at a second networking event, “Narrow the Gap”. 250 people came to hear the results of the projects: this event resulted in an additional $2,600 being raised in cash and $10,000 in in-kind contributions. Although these amounts may be small in terms of monetary value, LIN sees the process of raising local Vietnamese contributions for local causes as extremely important in building stronger communities (better informed, more connected) and, in the end, improving the likelihood of sustainability of local efforts.

For more information: http://www.linvn.org/

Monteverde Institute, Costa Rica

Grantee profile

Monteverde Institute, Costa Rica: building community assets through eco-tourism

The isolated Monteverde mountain region of Costa Rica, with a population of 7,000, is world-renowned for its unique social history as well as its efforts to protect rare tropical forests along the Cordillera de Tilaran in northwest Costa Rica. These forests attract hundreds of thousands of visitors to the region each year. Although tourism has brought many benefits, the large numbers of visitors, rapid urban growth and changes in the local economy, culture and landscape have all resulted in some complex problems for the local community and its environment. Recent scientific research plainly evidences that Monteverde’s historically abundant flora, fauna and water resources are increasingly stressed and in danger of future decline.

As a response to these challenges, the Monteverde Institute – an NGO working on sustainable development in the region for 27 years - has taken the lead in establishing a new community foundation that can raise resources from tourism and channel them towards community-identified conservation priorities. The GFCF has helped support start-up costs in a modest way.

Community involvement throughout the process of establishing the foundation has been crucial, not least as an important strategy for ensuring local ownership. Local people have been involved in all aspects of the institution’s development, including researching best practices for fundraising and organization development, testing and evaluating fundraising models, and developing granting processes. A local Stakeholder Advisory Committee has provided oversight and there have been multiple consultations with community groups. As the foundation prepares for its launch in 2013, it will be interesting to see if the experiences of Monteverde can be replicated and built on in other contexts affected both positively and negatively by tourism.

For more information: www.monteverde-institute.org

Nirnaya Trust, India

Grantee profile

Nirnaya Trust, India: Beyond Home and Hearth

Nirnaya Trust is a women’s fund based in Hyderabad, India. It was established in 1998 by three women who felt that the issue of the advancement of women’s rights in India needed not only urgent attention but an institution dedicated to mobilizing and granting money for the cause.

Nirnaya works with marginalized women and communities who have traditionally been neglected and under-resourced, including dalits (so-called “untouchables” in the Indian caste system), advasis (indigenous tribal communities), Muslim women, commercial sex-workers and urban slum-dwellers. This women’s fund works with groups across India, its small staff traveling – often at some risk to themselves - to rural areas where outsiders might not be welcome, for political or religious reasons. Grants are usual small (in the range of $1,500 - $3,000) and are usually combined with capacity building of grantee institutions.

Nirnaya’s philosophy has always been to encourage women to be in charge of their own change process. For example, in a recent programme to improve the livelihoods of women in rural villages in Jharkhand state through soft loans for collective income generating activities (and supported by a grant from the GFCF), women were asked to devise their own plans. Each woman was given 1,000 Indian rupees each (around U.S. $20) and organized themselves into groups around vegetable cultivation, cereal preparation etc. The direct results of this project included income raised by the women selling their products at the local market. But perhaps more important were the changes in the women’s mindsets and behaviour: they grew more confident in themselves and in each other, developing their decision-making capacities and learning the value of cooperation. These changes are perhaps best observed by one of the women themselves who remarked to Nirnaya staff: “Before you were asking questions and we were answering, now we are asking the questions and you are giving the answers.”

Such transformations are also not only internal: they also translate into external perceptions and interactions. In their community, the women have noticed how their value and image has also changed, with other local leaders, banks and government bodies now starting to listen to them and to hear their opinions on village activities.

For more information: www.nirnaya.org

iPartner, India

Grantee profile

iPartner, India: building a new culture of philanthropy in India

Although the number of self-described community foundations in India is still quite small, there is a broader set of new and more established institutions – including women’s funds, social justice funds and philanthropy development organizations – which are involved in building new and strategic cultures of giving and which are using small grants as a tool to empower and strengthen grassroots groups in ways that foster transparency and local accountability. Since 2011, the GFCF has supported a number of these with small grants and convenings.

iPartner is a U.K. and Indian-based non-profit organization. Although not a community foundation per se, iPartner performs many of the functions of new generation community philanthropy organizations by connecting new philanthropic resources with grassroots action.

iPartner originated in 2009 under Indian leadership in the UK, where it works predominantly with non-resident Indians to develop and facilitate strategic philanthropic giving across a wide range of development issues facing modern India. Increasingly, its Delhi office is engaging middle class donors in India too, as part of a strategy for increasing active citizenship and for weaning the country off already diminishing external funding. (The GFCF is currently supporting iPartner to raise awareness and mobilize domestic philanthropic resources targeted specifically at child-trafficking). iPartner’s ultimate goal is to raise the same amount of money inside India as in the UK: part of this process involves connecting new donors in India with their peers in the UK in order to share experiences.

As a bridging institution, iPartner not only works to educate donors on how their philanthropic contributions can make a different to the lives of India’s poor and most marginalized, but it also seeks to ensure that money granted to local Indian NGOs is used effectively and transparently. If Indian philanthropy is to grow in the long run, it will require trust and transparency on the part of donors, implementers and local communities. iPartner therefore seeks out credible local partner organizations in India, and works with them to strengthen capacities and to learn and share from each other. It currently has a network of 42 partners in 16 states in India.

For more information: www.ipartnerindia.org

Uluntu Community Foundation, Zimbabwe

Grantee profile

Uluntu Community Foundation, Zimbabwe: Putting People First

Uluntu Community Foundation is a young institution based in Bulawayo, Western Zimbabwe. Registered in 2008, the foundation was the initiative of a group of concerned citizens – including two journalists, a teacher and a former diplomat – who shared a vision of a local Zimbabwean philanthropic grantmaking institution which could foster and support a type of development driven by local people rather than by external agencies. Indeed, this spirit of a people-centred organization is captured in the organization’s name: “Uluntu” means “people” in Ndebele, the main local language of Western Zimbabwe.

The Matabeleland Provinces (North and South) are some of the poorest parts of Zimbabwe, with poverty levels estimated at 80% and unemployment at 90%. In the face of such stark challenges, however, this young community foundation - which operated for the first couple of years on very modest resources including a home office, volunteer labour and the moral and material support of its board - has taken a gradual and considered approach in charting out its direction and focus, taking time to put down roots and build trust at the community level through some initial projects in rural communities.

In 2009, a small planning grant from the GFCF helped support some start-up costs, including basic office equipment, board development and strategic planning. More recently, as the foundation has become more established (it now has three staff members and operates from a modest one-room office in a Bulawayo suburb), other international grassroots funders, such as Global Greengrants and American Jewish World Service, have stepped in to help the foundation develop a number of key programmes around youth development, education and food security and livelihoods. In 2011 and 2012, Uluntu staff and board participated in two joint learning events on youth civic engagement with community foundation peers in South Africa and the GFCF has provided support for Uluntu’s institutional development and its youth programmes through 2013.

As the foundation looks forward, it remains committed to building up local philanthropic support within the community: even in such difficult economic times, the foundation has received small donations from its board as well as volunteer and in-kind support. And grantmaking to local groups, normally a key function of a community foundation, is also on the cards. For the time being, Uluntu strives as much as possible to devolve decision-making and leadership to its partners, but as long as many community groups do not have bank accounts and bank charges remain high, transferring cash is problematic.

For more information: www.uluntu.org.