[Teresa Crawford]

Taking on Trust in Global Development Philanthropy

This post from Nina Blackwell at Firelight Foundation is a few months old but is a great piece about trust in philanthropy from a foundation leader who has put these practices to work in their giving.

Trust has become an important concept in global development philanthropy, but we need to really understand it before we preach it. Indeed, sector discussions on the subject can risk stopping short of addressing important questions that are critical to the concept as a whole.

Here are some starters: Why, in ‘traditional’ global development philanthropy is trust the privilege of donors with power and money? Also, why must grantees and non-profits earn trust in exchange for capital? And why do only some non-profits engender the trust of donors?

One final question: Why do so many of us in the global development philanthropy sector apparently find it so hard to place our trust in the very communities we say we want to help?

Discussion