THE IMPACT OF LOCAL PHILANTHROPY ON SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

Every Friday and Sunday in the worship homes, we all give something, even if it’s a coin.

Even though we have our ulterior reasons for giving, which could be either for the Almighty’s blessings on us or bless a member of your family, either deceased or alive.

Irrespective of the motivation, we always look out for the impact of our giving. We always want to make sure our giving is going to benefit someone in a befitting way. That is the mindset that we all have. More like “GIVING FOR A PURPOSE”

People do not give because they have money or enjoy giving, genuine giving is done when the giver shares in the purpose of the fundraiser.

We have the culture of giving and generally as a people we are development and sustainability conscious, but how do we integrate and make a structure out of this culture and positive spirit. Our culture and inclination to giving is what has been carved as “Local Philanthropy”. The will to see impact and progress in our society is also carved as “Development”

According to Dana Doan of the Global fund for community Foundations, Local philanthropy is “'taking what we have to make what we need”

According to her: Local philanthropy is a universal practice that originated long before the first community foundation was established. Local philanthropy relates to and comprises of various conceptions of philanthropy, including: grassroots philanthropy, engaged philanthropy, participatory philanthropy. Such concepts are present in traditional practices from around the world.

The above mentioned – and other – examples of local philanthropy have presented in a variety of organizational forms, including, but not limited to: identity?based funds, giving circles, community foundations, religious federations, youth banks, volunteer groups, and even some cooperatives.

What then is Development?

The Oxford Dictionary defines Development as “A specified state of advancement or a form of growth”

Marrying these 2 “How do we use what we have (human resource, time, money and skills) to advance our state of growth”

Starting with examples from our immediate families, we see how resources and monies are gathered to support a family member who intends to marry, travel or start a business. We see how families adopt the orphaned among us and nurture them to become great people for the society. We see how it is almost a norm now that families invest in each other to aid in their own development at their own level. This when done with the best of intentions and guidance, makes even the poorest of families grow to become very powerful families.

Stepping out into the society, Local philanthropy takes the form of communal philanthropy or communal labor, where communities come together to champion a common course towards their own development, a typical example is what we all witnessed whiles growing up, how our parents come out during weekends to clear the gutters in our areas and burn refuse, I can’t quiet remember as I was a child then, but I guess floods then was minimal as compared to today. Communities come together with not only money, they come out with their resources, machetes, wheel barrows, sand, pieces of blocks and even sometimes the well to do and community leaders donate lands and support with money. You get the men who will go to the market to cut wood and women who will cook for the men doing the work, that is everyone’s input from their own available resources and skills.

We have witnessed this community collaborations in many forms for different developmental projects, building of chief palaces, clinics, schools, teachers bungalows and the likes, but the goal has always been, to push the agenda of development of the community for a better future.

Then there is the global world who have come to a sudden realization of such great potential, all community and global foundations are beginning to believe that “until the development is driven by the people, it hardly becomes for the people, that is, the sense of ownership and the will of sustainability is lost

credit: Hereafter Ghana