Hosted by the International Committee of the Council on Foundations for the World Bank Foundations Working Group (drafted October 29, 2001, by Eleanor E. Fink, Sr. Cultural Heritage Specialist, ISGIF, member of the Foundations Working Group, who participated the conference)
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As a follow up to a proposal for pilot projects between community foundations and the civil society sector throughout the regions of the World Bank, the International Committee of the Council on Foundations organized a meeting of international representatives of community foundations in Vancouver, British Columbia, on October 14, 2001. The meeting was held in conjunction with the Crossing Borders Conference, sponsored by the Council on Foundations in Vancouver, October 15-17, 2001.

Over 1000 delegates, including 150 representatives from countries outside North America, attended the conference. International participants at the World Bank meeting on October 14 included communities from Australia, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Germany, Kenya, Italy, Mexico, Romania, Russia, Slovak Republic, South Africa, and the West Indies.

This report of the October 14, 2001 meeting and the Crossing Borders Conference is intended to inform the Bank?s Foundations Working Group and Bank country offices that community foundations are both interested and valuable in working with the regions of the World Bank at local levels to address community-driven development, poverty alleviation, and sustainable development.

Background

The exploration of how the World Bank and Community Foundations can build upon common interests in poverty alleviation and sustainable development grew out of several meetings hosted at the World Bank with the Council on Foundations, Ford Foundation, community foundation representatives, and the Bank?s operations and network staff. The initial impetus was a report funded by the Ford Foundation and compiled by Joyce Malombe, Community Development Foundations: Emerging Partnerships.1 The report points to common challenges facing community-driven development and community-based organizations, including the need for sustainability, lack of local capacities, adverse enabling environments, and the need for endowments. The report examines the role community foundations can play in aiding community-driven development and creating links among government, community leaders, NGOs, and the private sector.

• Below are characteristics of community foundations that illustrate their potential role in Bank efforts to achieve community-based and community-led development.
  Community foundations are independent, autonomous, non-profit foundations with a broad charitable purpose. They provide sustainable support for communities within defined service areas and strive to serve all members of each community by making grants and/or providing services.
• They engage local people and provide a means to help people help themselves.
• They may have an endowment, accept donations from local or international donors that share their vision, and/or pass-through grants for specific needs and services.
• They conduct activities in a transparent and participatory way. Community foundations typically have governing and advisory boards of local leaders and businesspeople that direct and monitor foundation performance.
• Where local governments lack the capacity to identify partners and the needs of a community, community foundations are trusted and respected as neutral agents. As active brokers, they create broad buy-in and sustainability.
  Following the discussion of the Malombe report, the Bank's Foundation Coordinator, Joan Martin-Brown, and RMC convened several follow up meetings to explore how community foundations could be included in the work of the World Bank:
• December 11-13, 2000: A workshop on Local/Global Connectivity for Voices of the Poor brought together representatives from the Bank's regions and NGOs addressing poverty alleviation. The workshop recommended that community foundations serve as bridges between civil society, corporations, and the government.
• March 5, 2001: A meeting with the Council on Foundations on community foundations hosted and chaired by Motoo Kusakabe, Vice President, Resources Mobilization and Cofinancing. Pilot projects were suggested as a follow-up to the recommendations in the Malombe report and the December workshop. Four pilot countries were suggested that would lend themselves to Bank work on community foundations: South Africa, Bangladesh, Mexico, and the Philippines.
• September 24, 2001: A series of meetings hosted and chaired by Motoo Kusakabe, Vice President, Resources Mobilization and Cofinancing, focused on a draft proposal for pilot projects from the Council on Foundations. In addition to the four countries suggested at the March 5, 2001 meeting, Romania and Croatia were added as possibilities. It was determined that a scooping team, co-chaired by Arif Zulfiqar and Steen Jorgenson would be established to (a) identify up to 8 World Bank client country projects with concrete sites and linkages to World Bank operations that would accommodate a community foundation component in the project; (b) assess funding sources that might be utilized to support Phase I of the proposal; and (c) identify other best ways for the World Bank to collaborate. It was also suggested that Bank country staff be notified of the discussions taking place and that they become acquainted with the community foundations in their countries in order to explore the possibility of pilot projects.                                                                                                                                                           

October 14, 2001
Vancouver Meeting of Community Foundations

The meeting of international participants at Vancouver on October 14 provided an opportunity to gain insights into the work of community foundations and learn more about potential pilot areas. The meeting was opened by Robert Buchanan, Director of International Programs at the Council on Foundations in Washington, D.C. Buchanan, with the help of Julia Szanton, International Coordinator of the Council of Michigan Foundations, organized the meeting for the World Bank. Eleanor E. Fink, a member of the World Bank's Foundations Working Group attended the meeting on behalf of the Bank's Foundation Coordinator and Resources Mobilization and Cofinancing.

Buchanan emphasized the World Bank's serious interest in exploring how the Bank could work more effectively with community foundations. He introduced Eleanor Fink, who provided a brief introduction to how the World Bank addresses poverty alleviation and sustainable development. She emphasized that the World Bank primarily works through the government of each client country, but seeks a holistic approach to development that includes civil society and the private sector and strongly supports community-driven development. Fink also outlined some of the information resources that could help participants become acquainted with the work of the Bank:

• The Bank's external web site (www.worldbank.org)
• The World Bank and Foundations Partnerships web site (http://wbln0018.worldbank.org/essd/extfoundations.nsf)
• The Development Gateway (www.developmentgateway.org) and its projects database, AIDA http://developmentgateway.org/node/100647/, that lists over 300,000 development projects by country and sector, including projects that the Bank and other multilateral aid agencies are planning, those that are underway, and those that have been completed.
• The Community Partners Forum (http://wbln0018.worldbank.org/rmc/devpart.nsf), an interactive Bank web site designed to support community development by enabling communities to connect to each other and to donors to discuss projects and strategies to advance poverty reduction.
  Fink encouraged participants to investigate these resources and to enter information about their community foundations on the Community Partners Forum web site.

Buchanan then called upon several of the participants to report on the work of their community foundations. Below is a list of participants by region and a selection of the reports, including the names of the representatives, and whether or not the representatives have been in contact with World Bank staff in their countries:

Africa

Kenya
Kenya Community Development Foundation (KCDF), Nairobi
Representative: Beverley Nuthu, Finance Officer (kcdf@nbnet.co.ke)
Contact with Bank staff in Kenya: Nyambura Githagui, Senior Social Development Specialist.

South Africa
Greater Rustenburg Community Foundation (GRCF)
Representative: Christine Delport, Executive Director (delportp@mweb.co.za)

Uthungulu Community Foundation
Representative: Chris Mkhize, Executive Director (chris.mkhize@zcbf.org)

Profile:

Kenya Community Development Foundation (KCDF)
The Kenya Community Development Foundation (KCDF), started in 1997, is the first public foundation in Kenya serving three distinct constituencies: donors (local and international), non-profit organizations, and Kenyans. The KCDF board consists of community leaders (doctors, business people, and philanthropists), and local representatives of international organizations such as the Ford Foundation.

KCDF currently serves the needs and philanthropic aims of donors through four funds:      

• The Children's Fund to support early childhood development and community-based child rehabilitation for street children and cases of abuse and neglect.
• The Scholarship Fund to support secondary education of children.
• The Women's Fund to promote and enhance women's welfare.
• The Famine and Emergency Fund to seek sustainable solutions to disasters.
  Beverly Nuthu, Finance Officer of the Kenya Community Development Foundation, has established a good working relationship with the World Bank's Nyambura Githagui, Senior Social Development Specialist in Kenya. KCDF has received funding through the Bank's Small Grants Program and discussions are underway to work with KCDF to identify and distribute additional small grants based on KCDF's knowledge of community needs and trust within the community.

Latin America and the Caribbean

Brazil
Institute for the Development of Social Investment (IDIS), Sao Paulo
GATIS, Sao Jose dos Campos

México
Community Foundation del Bajío
Representative: Adriana Cortes Jiménez, Director General (adrianacj@infosel.net.mx)

Puebla Community Foundation
Representative: Susana Pla Rovira, Executive Director (fucompue@upaep.mx)

Oaxaca Community Foundation
Representative: M.D. Jaime Bolanos Cacho Guzman, Director General (fundoax@prodigy.net.mx)

Community Foundation Cozumel
Representative: Octavio Rivero Gual (funcoziap@cozunet.finred.com.mx)

Community Foundation Para El Desarrollo de Morelos
Representative: Carolina Ruesga

No contact has yet been established by these representatives with Bank staff in Mexico.

Profile:

Community Foundations in Mexico

The history of community foundations in Mexico is relatively new. There are 21 active community foundations and others in the process of formation. They are located in 12 of the country's 32 states and in the capital city.

They reflect divergent histories and work orientations. Two of the foundations are funded by a payroll tax suggested by their states' business communities. A few initially received seed funding from state governments, and others were funded by family trusts. The combined assets of the 13 most active foundations are $3.8 million dollars (35.5 million pesos). However, 7 foundations do not have endowment funds. To date, the grants from community foundations have totaled $9.2 million dollars, covering projects addressing people with disabilities, child welfare, women, addictions, and culture.

The Mexican Center for Philanthropy (CEMEFI) and the Synergos Institute (a U.S. organization with international support) have supported these community foundations with information, training, and technical assistance in forming a network. The network has obtained local funds from individuals and companies and from international sources such as the Ford, MacArthur, Rockefeller, Kellogg, and Mott Foundations.

Europe and Central Asia

Hungary
Carpathian Foundation
Representative: Igor Ilko, Country Director (fil@ilko.uzhgorod.ua)

Romania
Carpathian Foundation
Representative: Lorena Stoica, Country Director (cfro@mail.rdsor.ro)

Slovak Republic
Carpathian Foundation
Representative: Sandor Koles, Executive Director (sandor.koles@cfoundation.org)

Russia
Charities Aid Foundation (CAF)
Togliatti Community Foundation
Moscow Community Foundation
Representative: Olga Alexeeva, Director (CAF) and Board Member (Togliatti and Moscow Community Foundations)
Contact with Bank staff in Moscow

Profile:

Community Foundations in Russia

Although there is an innate distrust of "organizations" in Russia and only two percent of charitable donations to nonprofits come from private citizens, there has been some progress in the area of individual philanthropy. The Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) is providing free services for NGOs. In addition to publishing information and providing guidance on a variety of topics, CAF runs training schools for NGOs. At these training schools, NGOs receive specific information about legal, operational, and financial issues that affect them. The schools are tailored to a variety of audiences-from the newest NGO on the block to the most experienced. Recognizing that NGOs need more than training to be operational, CAF currently has three grant programs, which give NGOs the financial support they need in specific areas:

• A $4 million orphan assistance program is operated with money from USAID. Partnerships with British NGOs involving a variety of programs are made possible with support from Charity Know How.
• Grants of $2000 for children's projects in 11 regions are made possible through cooperation with UNICEF and matching funds from the World Bank
  The Togliatti Foundation has so far raised $80,000 to fund local projects.

Observations and Discussions

Most community foundations began a few years ago and vary in their financial structures, which may include endowments, pass-through funds, and grants. Most have boards consisting of community leaders from business, health, and philanthropic sectors. The foundations' overarching aim is to help local communities implement sustainable solutions for social and economic problems. Many act as service providers or help NGOs develop sound proposals funded by grants.

Recommendations for how the World Bank could assist community foundations, included:

• helping to fund and build endowments through challenge grants that the foundations would in turn utilize for community-driven and community-led development.
• helping governments become familiar with the community foundation model.
• reaching out to members of the private sector to involve them in the work of community foundations, as board members or project sponsors.
• using the convening power of the World Bank to address legislation such as tax laws that would create greater incentives for giving.
• creating a Community Foundation Bank.
  Most of the above suggestions are consistent with discussions that took place at the September 24, 2001 meeting at the World Bank regarding the community foundations draft framework proposal for pilot projects. These discussions identified the following challenges:
• the need to tie community foundations to Bank projects;
• the need for receptive Task Managers;
• the potential for linking community foundations to the private sector, including small and medium entrepreneurs;
• the importance of building capacity for community foundations to support community-driven development;
• the need for legal frameworks;
• the possible role of community foundations as intermediaries in the larger community;
• the possibility of creating a Bank Trust Fund to support community foundations that could accommodate both foundation and other donor funds; and
• the need for a demonstration project, case studies, knowledge sharing, and replication.
  

              Observations from the Crossing Borders Conference
October 15-17, 2001

Stephen Lewis, UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, who presented the keynote address at the opening day of the Crossing Borders Conference, provided a compelling insight into the fundamental role that community foundations play. Lewis talked about the enormous challenges the world faces with global warming, HIV/AIDS, and poverty. He reminded participants that in order to make a difference, governments and multilateral organizations must find mechanisms to link global challenges to such local imperatives as inclusion, empowerment, and public policy.

He stressed that community foundations are a direct link to the vulnerable sectors of society. They speak with authenticity and authority for their communities. They provide a mechanism for bringing local people together and empowering them to fight problems and develop sustainable solutions. They provide the capacity to do in smaller groups what the world has failed to do in larger manifestations.

He pointed to the aftermath of September 11 as a demonstration of how useful community foundations have been in distributing food and aid at the local level, and in raising over 25 million dollars for the victims of the tragedies.

There were several sessions at the Crossing Borders Conference that revealed the considerable infrastructure in place to aid in the development of community foundations and to promote good practices. These include:

• The Council on Foundations (COF) (http://www.cof.org/about/index.htm) A nonprofit U.S.-based membership association of grant-making foundations and corporations. COF helps foundation staff, trustees, and board members in their day-to-day grantmaking activities through technical assistance, research, publications, conferences, and workshops. COF has an international committee and includes community foundations as one of the membership sectors it supports.
• Worldwide Initiatives for Grantmaker Support (WINGS) A network of over 40 grant-maker support organizations around the world that have joined together to create opportunities to learn from and support one another, and develop modes of philanthropy worldwide. Wings ? CF (http://www.wingsweb.org/WINGS-CF/about.htm) includes organizations supporting the development and work of community foundations in different areas of the world.
• Transatlantic Community Foundation Network (TCFN) (http://www.tcfn.efc.be) A vehicle for European and North American community foundations to exchange experiences and good practices. While Wings ? CF focuses on the organizations that support the development of community foundations, TCFN actually brings community foundations together to learn from each other. It seeks to facilitate, nurture and encourage the growing interest in the idea of community foundations in Germany and Europe by strengthening communication and interaction with community foundation practitioners in the U.S., Canada and other countries. It consists of four working groups dealing with:
  1. Asset building
  2. Organizational development
  3. Strategic program management
  4. Roles of community foundations in public life

TCFN is funded and managed by the Bertelsmann Foundation with the support and advice of the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.

Summary

The meetings and discussions that have taken place between the World Bank and community foundations and the insights of the Vancouver meeting and Crossing Borders Conference indicate a powerful convergence of common interests in poverty alleviation and in community driven and sustainable development. It is also apparent that the World Bank and community foundations can each benefit from exploring together new opportunities in entrepreneurship and in advancing small and medium enterprises that can strengthen communities.

As indicated in the September 24 meeting hosted and chaired by Motoo Kusakabe, Vice President, Resources Mobilization and Cofinancing, the World Bank will prepare a business response to the Council on Foundations draft proposal for pilot projects and establish a team co-chaired by Arif Zulfiqar and Steen Jorgenson to:

• identify up to 8 World Bank client country projects with concrete sites and links to World Bank operations that would accommodate a community foundation component in the projects.
• assess funding sources that might be utilized to support Phase I of the proposal.
• identify other ways for the World Bank to collaborate.
  In preparation, this report will be distributed to the Foundations Working Group and World Bank country staff to encourage dialogues between country staff and community foundations in their countries. As with all earlier minutes of meetings, it will be posted on the Bank's Foundations web site.
  For any further information, referring to the conference, please contact Eleanor Fink by email: efink@worldbank.org