Donors

From Unicorn to Zebra: The transformation of ZGF

August 28, 2023 August 28, 2023

Unicorn organizations are extractive, ruthlessly competitive, and hierarchical in their relationships with others, especially local organisations, while zebras tend to have flatter structures informed by the people they serve, and they value empathy and solidarity. Unicorns speak sophisticated English and they “impress” with terms like scalability, profitability, innovation, impact, cash, burn rate, key performance indicators, and IRR (internal rate of return). Zebras don’t know those fancy words because they speak like regular people using less technical terms.

September: Transforming Philanthropy Month

July 12, 2023 July 13, 2023

A diverse, multifaceted movement aiming to promote greater visibility of the agendas and practices of community and social justice philanthropy in Brazil.

The urgent need for Malawian CSOs to #ShiftThePower

June 1, 2023 June 6, 2023

First responders and the contributions made by other Malawians had been “erased” from the narratives on humanitarian response to cyclone Freddy.

Philanthropy: What’s trust got to do with it?

May 23, 2023 July 14, 2023

One of the things I struggled with early on when I started to understand the #ShiftThePower movement was the concept of “trust”. The idea was strange to me; during discussions around the concept, I asked if it was genuinely possible to trust that an organization could do the work independently without being held to so many checks and due diligence processes.

Whose counterpart? The trick of power

December 12, 2022 December 12, 2022

External resources are only a modest contribution to the gigantic efforts and contribution that the communities make daily. They are the “starting point.” Without it, there is no possible development project.

How to lift community-led organizations in dry aid: Experiences from Kenya

December 2, 2022 December 2, 2022

From a distance the development sector looks well. Get interested. Establish a local community organization and try your luck in the “do good” sector. Write proposals. Get regrets, rejections and finally get picked. Meet all the due diligence requirements. Sign the contract. Get a few dollars. Start implementing. Write reports. Monitor. Audit. Evaluate. Write reports. Repeat.

Are funders ready for mutual accountability?

October 27, 2022 November 28, 2022

Local organizations receiving funding are, by default, expected to transparently share intimate details about themselves (When were you founded? Who is on your board? Who are your donors? What do your policies look like?… For fear of seeming difficult to work with, local organizations will not risk asking equally pertinent questions about the potential partners that they intend to collaborate with.