The Covid-19 crisis and protests for racial justice are putting unprecedented pressure on society to deal with longstanding inequities in everything from health care to criminal justice. And there will be no simple solution, given the deep-seated nature of these disparities; after all, a vaccine won’t fix the fact that Blacks are more vulnerable to these types of outbreaks, and a single election or piece of legislation won’t appease protesters demanding a more equal society.
The philanthropic world must adapt to this reality as well and shift toward an approach that goes beyond a single cause and incorporates a spectrum of solutions and players to address the root of society’s problems. It’s a challenge that’s both daunting and critical, as a growing awareness of the complexity of our problems requires holistic solutions.
In our home country, Brazil, we have embraced this broader approach toward philanthropy in ways that respond to the realities of our people and communities.
Brazil lacks the institutional philanthropy and nonprofit infrastructure that countries like the United States enjoy, meaning there are a limited number of organizations with enough funding and long-term experience to tackle problems in a holistic way. Given the challenges we face in Brazil, social change requires bringing in even more partners, working closely with government agencies, and adopting entrepreneurial mind-sets and practices. We call our version of grass-roots organizing and engaging multiple players to solve problems “360-degree philanthropy.”
Our organization, Humanitas360, conducts work in the Americas to reduce violence and improve people’s lives. We act with urgency, bringing people together quickly to hash out creative fixes that won’t require the largess of big foundations or donors since Brazil has so few philanthropists. We also focus on citizen involvement and transparency, developing collaborative solutions that bring about social change. We empower the people we’re trying to help by listening to their needs while adapting programs to reflect their reality and the reality of the surrounding community.
Working Side by Side
By taking a 360-degree philanthropy approach to our mission, we’ve found we’re able to immerse ourselves in the broken system we’re trying to repair and, rather than assigning blame and pointing fingers, work side by side with everyone who has a stake in solving the problem. Doing so promotes reconciliation between those too often at odds. In time, this can alter mind-sets and help people outgrow their prejudices so they can embrace empathy and compassion. Our involvement and shared successes also serve to demonstrate that everyone — not just those targeted by philanthropy — has something to gain from efforts to fix systemic problems.
Here’s one example of how the 360-degree philanthropy approach works for us. In an effort to improve the criminal-justice system in Brazil, we brought together judges, prison guards, journalists, researchers, representatives of other social organizations, and — perhaps most importantly — inmates, former inmates, and their family members. This is complicated work and requires outstanding listening skills and the ability to help people who don’t have a lot in common work together. Our goal is to change the narrative about incarceration and sentencing so policy changes will follow.
Our approach has resulted in concrete solutions to improve our prison system and people’s lives. We developed a social cooperative in Maranhão state to teach women inmates to weave high-quality fabrics so they would have skills to earn an income once they were released.
We also offered the same opportunity to women who had been recently released to help them on the job market. We brought in designers, businesses, entrepreneurs, and other philanthropists to ensure the women would have the skills and market to achieve success. Importantly, the project is backed by a partnership with Brazil’s National Justice Council, a key government institution whose involvement lends credibility and stability to our work.
This social cooperative — and others like it we have developed — give women serving in prison a chance to acquire business skills in addition to learning a highly valued craft.
Everybody benefits from this approach — women are less likely to end up back in prison when they have the means to earn a good living, which is good for them and society as a whole. What’s more, the women inject new life into the economy, as their gains have a ripple effect by benefitting their children, their suppliers, and in some cases, their employees. And now there is an added gain: The women are weaving masks and other items of protective equipment to help slow the spread of Covid-19.
Collaboration Is Key
While the structural constraints of philanthropy in Brazil at first seem like a disadvantage, we have found many silver linings through our 360-degree philanthropy approach. Because we’re a small organization, we know we can achieve comprehensive results for people and communities only if we seek out partners — like the National Justice Council — and offer ourselves up as a partner as well. Our small size also allows us to mobilize quickly and bring people together without internal bureaucracy standing in our way. We don’t have a political agenda, which helps bring in present and former members of the government on our key projects.
Although our work is focused on Brazil, this model of collaboration can be a powerful tool for systemic change in any setting — especially those where institutional philanthropy is lacking or just now emerging. Small organizations can learn from this model as it shows that size and huge resources are not always required to engage the full spectrum of stakeholders to solve complex social problems. In our experience, broad stakeholder engagement — which is a necessary approach to address any systemic social problem — is not solely reserved for the big players in philanthropy.
Given the surging need for aid around the world, this approach is one we hope leaders can take in regions with little institutional philanthropy. The pandemic affects so many aspects of the lives of individuals and the neighborhoods that we must act holistically if we are ever to make a full recovery as a society. By approaching issues with a focus on engaging everyone with a stake in solving a problem, we can forge the partnerships that help catalyze a recovery in the short term, enabling collaborations that sustain communities for the long run.
