"When resources were limited and someone needed help, neighbors knew-you didn't have to ask-and the community in its own way showed up to help with what they could. From helping to take the kids to school to showing up at the hospital when someone was sick, neighbors stepped up with kindness to share their limited but valuable resources. These experiences shaped my perspective about how community stands with community by sharing resources and the forces that mobilize them: relationships."
"This sense of community and the importance of relationships has stayed with me. After learning the ropes of organizing from my mother, who organized our neighborhood, and then spending more than a decade organizing on issues like immigrant rights, access to healthcare, and voting rights, it has been the relationships born out of those struggles that taught me about the power of purposeful connections. These lessons remain with me, even as I now work as a program officer at a foundation."
Transformative and decolonialized approaches to philanthropy shift the sector from traditional top-down models toward equitable, community-centered practices. Philanthropic organizations can share power authentically, center affected communities in decision-making, and build reciprocal relationships. Money is power, but relationships can be powerfully transformational. Close-knit, low-income communities often mobilize informal mutual aid when resources are scarce, demonstrating solidarity through everyday acts of support. Organizing experience across immigrant rights, healthcare access, and voting rights reveals that purposeful connections sustain movements and shape solutions. Traditional philanthropy frequently remains disconnected from everyday problems and local solutions. Philanthropic leaders must prioritize listening and honest relationship building to enable community-led change.
#community-centered-philanthropy #decolonial-approaches #power-sharing #reciprocal-relationships #mutual-aid
Read at Nonprofit Quarterly | Civic News. Empowering Nonprofits. Advancing Justice.
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