In January and February of 2006, participants in the Vibrant Communities Funders Network came together to learn about and discuss social justice grant making. This two-part seminar series provides information about how a commitment to do grant making work from a social justice perspective can enable funders to address the root causes of poverty and find long-term solutions to pervasive community problems.

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Learning Objectives

The Social Justice Grant Making Learning Initiative is designed to support funders who are involved with local Vibrant Communities efforts as they seek to use their resources to address the underlying causes of complex social issues.

The specific objectives of the Learning Initiative are:

Seminar #1: Funders & Social Change – Making a Big Difference

In this seminar, Paul Born interviews Betsy Martin, Senior Advisor and Program Consultant with Community Foundations of Canada. Their story is relevant to all funders seeking to make a bigger difference in their communities. In the early years of this century CFC had come to an increasing realization that they needed to use their growing assets to combat some of the toughest challenges facing their communities. They set out to increase the commitment and capacity of community foundations to do more of their work from a social justice perspective.

Several factors prompted this decision. First, following decades of rising public spending, Canadian federal and provincial governments in the 1990s dramatically cut budgets. Services were cut, or the responsibility was transferred to cities and towns, causing a flood of grant requests to community and charitable organizations

At the same time, changes to Canadian tax policies helped to stimulate charitable giving, leading to the emergence of new donors from within the booming technology sector and other growing sectors. Community foundations in Canada grew rapidly, doubling their combined assets from $1 billion to nearly $2 billion between 1998 and 2005.

CFC and its member community foundations in Canada were thus faced with a disturbing dichotomy. While their assets and grants were at record levels, so too were poverty rates, environmental decay and the struggles of new Canadian immigrants. Community foundations felt compelled to use their growing assets to tackle the root causes of some of the toughest challenges facing their communities.

CFC is convinced that this work must be undertaken not only by a few foundations, but as an endeavour of the entire national network. As one CFC report on social justice explains, The principle of fair and full distribution of benefits and opportunities requires grant makers to take into account the nature of what they are achieving through their actions.

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Seminar #2: The Hamilton Experience – Tackling Poverty by Building a Vibrant Community

In this seminar, Paul Born interviews Carolyn Milne of the Hamilton Community Foundation, one of Canada’s most effective and experienced grant makers. With the highest poverty rate in Ontario, the Hamilton Community Foundation knew that they needed to take bold steps. One in five (100,000) of Hamilton’s residents live in low-income households, and the numbers are even higher among children under 12 (25%), seniors over 75 (29%) and recent immigrants (52%).

During the past decade, the wealthiest 40% of Hamilton’s citizens have experienced increasing incomes, while the poorest 60% have seen their incomes drop even further. At the same time, some of Hamilton’s largest and best-known employers have either filed for bankruptcy protection or shut down altogether.

The Hamilton Community Foundation knew that drastic action was required. Following extensive consultation, the foundation became the first community foundation in Canada to commit its entire unrestricted community fund to a single cause – poverty reduction. In February 2004 they launched Tackling Poverty Together, a four-year initiative to provide at least $3 million to charitable organizations focusing on innovative poverty prevention and reduction. Soon after this initiative was announced, Hamilton’s city government stepped in and less than one year later, the foundation and the local government had joined forces to mobilize a community-wide focus on poverty reduction.*

Carolyn shares the steps of their journey, the first of its kind, co-led by a Canadian community foundation and a local government. The interview acts as a significant case study of how a local funder has sought to make a huge difference in their community.

* This description of the Hamilton experience has been taken from an article by Betsy Martin entitled Shifting Focus, published in the September/October 2005 issue of Foundation News & Commentary.

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Resources

Social Justice: Useful Definitions – This sheet, produced by Community Foundations of Canada, gives several definitions for key terms such as social justice, poverty, and social exclusion and inclusion.

The Social Justice Spectrum – This tool, developed for Community Foundations of Canada’s November 2003 Social Justice Forum and subsequently revised to reflect the input from that meeting, provides some directions for community foundations to consider as they look at their work through a social justice lens. The three roles of a community foundation – grantmaking, donor service and endowment building, and community leadership – are addressed within a social justice framework.

Understanding Social Justice Philanthropy - This report of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy explores the theoretical framework of social justice and social justice philanthropy.

Innovation & Problem Solving – This paper provides an overview of Canada’s legislative and regulatory environment as it relates to social justice philanthropy. Attention is given to the laws governing a charity’s participation in political activities and the role of charities in public policy development.

Social Justice Evaluation Report 2005 – This report summarizes the results of a survey distributed to all community foundations in Canada. The survey assessed foundations’ attitudes towards social justice and their commitment to and engagement in social justice work.

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