Community philanthropy as practice: A case study of Thousand Currents

As philanthropy has emerged to play a prominent role in supporting community well-being efforts, important critiques have been raised about the undemocratic nature of philanthropy that appears to privilege private interests over community needs. In response to these concerns, Community Philanthropy (CP) has emerged as a philanthropic model that prioritizes community asset-building, agency, and trust in order to “shift power” to beneficiary communities (Hodgson & Pond (2018). How community philanthropy shifts power. Grantcraft. Retrieved August 14, 2021, from https://grantcraft.org/content/guides/how-community-philanthropy-shifts-power). Despite its promise, questions remain about how CP can practically achieve the goals of sharing power, building trust, and showing solidarity toward community self-determination for well-being. To address these gaps, we examine the case of Thousand Currents, a public foundation that has pioneered a CP inspired grantmaking model. Thousand Currents provides long-term unrestricted grants to grassroots partners (grantees), learns about partner concerns, acts upon partner feedback, and is self-reflexive about its positional power as a funder. The foundation achieves its grantmaking objectives by taking deliberate fundraising and staffing decisions. Our case study showcases how other foundations can take steps towards actualizing CP.