Document Type
Article
Publication Date
6-1-2003
Abstract
To effectively support the empowerment of marginalized and resource-poor communities, the nonprofit sector must not only anticipate, but embrace and support transition of their programs with community partners towards greater autonomy. The aim of this ethnographic inquiry is to create opportunities for social change grantees to reflect on their interactions with their grantors, social change philanthropists, which fund their movement oriented goals of social justice and systemic change. Social change philanthropists turn the traditional, donor-controlled approach to philanthropy on its head by transferring grant-making decisions from the donors to community activist boards selected to reflect the make-up of prospective grant recipients. This inquiry is constructed to explore this phenomenon of social change philanthropy from the perspective of the grantees, indigenous empowerment organizations, and how they negotiate to broaden the repertoire of approaches to grant-making collaborations which bring about the kinds of lasting changes desired by the beneficiaries themselves. Through phenomenological interviews with the social entrepreneurs providing leadership to these organizations, we will explore the unwritten social contracts embedded in this non-traditional grantee-grantor relationship. By elucidating and contributing to a model on the interactive dynamics of social change philanthropy, this inquiry would be useful to grassroots organizations and their funding sources committed to evolving infrastructure and processes in support of the practice and diffusion of effective grant-making for social change. Under these circumstances, community development aid can remain perpetually valid through continuous dialogue with community stakeholders, facilitating ownership instead of fostering dependency.
Keywords
nonprofit organizations--research
Rights
© The Author(s). Kelvin Smith Library provides access for non-commercial, personal, or research use only. All other use, including but not limited to commercial or scholarly reproductions, redistribution, publication or transmission, whether by electronic means or otherwise, without prior written permission is strictly prohibited.
Department/Center
Design & Innovation
Recommended Citation
Vanderpuye, Kwardua, "Philanthropy Ventures with Social Entrepreneurs: An Ethnographic Inquiry into Progressive Grantee-Grantor Collaborations" (2003). Student Scholarship. 336.
https://commons.case.edu/studentworks/336