Grassroots Development: An Outside Perspective

Monterrey, Nuevo León, July 18, 2022. To explore different perspectives on promoting grassroots community philanthropy, we brought together our members to listen to and discuss with Casa Fluminense in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; the Monteverde Community Fund in Monteverde, Costa Rica; and the Global Fund for Community Foundations. 

Understanding grassroots development as a dynamic, gradual, organic, and collaborative process that helps realign local structures, roles, and processes so that the community is at the center of solutions to local issues, we recognize the value of the horizontal collaborations that these leaders foster in their communities. 

Comunalia’s experience with the first phase of the Active Communities Fund for social and economic recovery has led us to recognize the vital role that community foundations play as catalysts for opportunities in times of emergency, with a focus on grassroots development.

Among the main ideas regarding grassroots development, we have identified the following commonalities, differences, and lessons learned regarding their implementation:

• Casa Fluminense, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It has a metropolitan perspective and a hybrid model. Its approach supports the strengthening of social leadership and grassroots organizations through grants for community projects, and promotes a “think tank” that generates knowledge, provides training, and fosters connections among stakeholders in its territories. It also advocates for the development of public policies at the metropolitan level that address the broader needs of civil society and the community. 
• Monteverde Community Fund, in Monteverde, Costa Rica. Its small-grant program, which focuses on the environment, the green economy, youth, and social and cultural development, promotes a vision of social investment for grassroots development. Projects are proposed and evaluated by the community itself, a practice that fosters trust and transparency.
• Global Fund for Community Foundations (GFCF). Although, as a global social investment fund, it does not work directly with communities, it collaborates with partners such as Casa Fluminense and the Monteverde Community Fund to promote community philanthropy as a tool for fostering community leadership. One example is the #ShiftThePower movement that GFCF promotes to shift, restore, or redistribute power within communities.

In order to continue creating opportunities for social investors, various sectors, and the community itself to come together and collaborate, we are currently developing the second phase of the Active Communities Fund, a joint effort between Comunalia, the Inter-American Foundation, the C.S. Mott Foundation, and 11 partner community foundations, which supports 38 projects led by grassroots groups and civil society organizations across the country.

For the Alliance of Community Foundations of Mexico, it is essential to promote community philanthropy with an emphasis on grassroots development, to listen to the voices of marginalized community members, to strengthen existing capacities, and to mobilize financial and non-financial resources so that together we can take action to address common challenges.