Community foundations, an excellent philanthropic tool at the territorial level

After a worldwide call, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, from the United States, chose the Spanish Association of Foundations to develop projects rooted in local needs. Together they make up an ambitious program in which our Foundation collaborates. Now is the time to take them into action and, to this end, on February 8 the AEF launched the first call for the Support Program for the Creation of Community Foundations in Spain , whose deadline for submitting applications ends on March 25, 2021.

At the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation we feel great satisfaction to contribute to promoting this action of the Spanish Association of Foundations, which thanks to the Mott Foundation will serve to develop in Spain a very particular philanthropic typology, which contributes to the well-being of the communities from the proximity of the territory.

Community foundations are non-profit organizations whose purpose is to strengthen and articulate society in those territories where they work – towns, regions, small cities or neighborhoods – channeling resources and skills to solve needs and initiatives of common interest to their population.

By supporting the creation of community foundations in Spain, the American Charles Stewart Mott Foundation will promote the growth and implementation of projects rooted in local needs of various kinds, such as educational, health, elderly aid initiatives, promotion of organic gardens or care for the environment, among others.

The model of community foundations has proven to decisively promote such crucial aspects as the professionalization of social action, the correspondence between it and the needs of communities, awareness and mobilization for action of the whole of society and the social link between people and organizations, in favor of the common good

Isabelle Le Galo Flores, director for Spain of the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation

Community foundations generate small fabrics of philanthropy that contribute to empowering people and agents in the face of local manifestations of global challenges.

From the Foundation we trust that this program will contribute to saving the hair tissue of small highly committed initiatives at a time of great difficulty, so that they can also access public or European funds.

The opening of Spanish philanthropy to models of community philanthropy will allow an even greater degree of cooperation and synergies between them, fueling a promising movement for the transformation of our society in the face of such pressing challenges as the climate and social justice emergency, for example

Isabelle Le Galo Flores, director for Spain of the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation

There are only 9 years left to meet the objectives of the 2030 Agenda and the foundation sector can contribute decisively to this achievement by sharing its knowledge, methodologies and experience in terms of impact and social transformation. This foundational work, carried out for decades and on an exceptionally long time scale, free from the electoral volatility typical of public administrations, has been documented and analyzed, and its learnings have been systematized in formats that are easy to replicate. It can provide unique and necessary value in the collective design of post-covid reconstruction strategies.

Our support for the AEF in promoting community foundations is only the first step. We will join forces with public institutions or private entities dedicated to sustaining the fabric of the social and solidarity economy to be stronger when it comes to addressing social emergencies and providing these initiatives with real possibilities for self-sustainability. Because we are at a key moment: the time to reinvent our world and solve the urgent problems we face at the same time.

You can consult the rules and submit a candidacy here.