"As the new director at Worldwide Initiatives for Grantmaker Support (WINGS), I am in contact with, and support a whole range of, philanthropic sectors and their infrastructure. I believe community foundations’ approach is of particular importance both for its impact on the ground and for the learnings it can provide to the philanthropic field in general. 

One of the most striking lessons I learned from past experiences in development programmes is that you cannot make a positive and lasting change unless people have appropriation and power over the actions they’re involved in. And this is precisely what characterizes community foundations’ approach. For instance, I was very impressed by the organic intelligence of the work done in Nepal by Tewa, the Nepal Women’s Fund, after 2015’s earthquakes. They had no complex logical framework, no outstanding foreign experts team, and a small budget, but by putting trust in people and their local skills, they have achieved very interesting results in a short period of time.

As a way to sustain social projects through local private resources, community foundations are in some way blurring the boundaries between philanthropy and the NGO / CSOs sector. They question these borders and bring into the philanthropic sector very valuable views and experiences concerning crucial issues such as sustainability and ownership.

WINGS is very excited to participate in this Global Summit for Community Philanthropy and looks forward to being in contact with, and learning about, the latest developments in the sector, as well as how it can enrich the broader global philanthropic community."

People Behind the Summit