Philanthropy in Brazil is at an inflection point.
Almost 40 years after the end of the dictatorship, Brazil has an organized philanthropic field and an increasingly strong social sector, despite former president Bolsonaro's blunt attempt to undermine it. Unlike other countries in the Global South, we have an abundance of locally-sourced wealth – from wealthy individuals to corporate philanthropy to the average citizen.
Yet as the field of philanthropy in Brazil develops, some important questions about power and accountability have started to arise.
To date, the field of knowledge that has been built around philanthropy in Brazil has been largely influenced by strategic philanthropy (also known as Private Social Investment) – top-down grantmaking models that keep power in the hands of donors.
However, it is clear that we are entering a new era of how we practice philanthropy. There are increasing conversations among philanthropists about what it means to shift power to frontline leaders and changemakers – as part of the paradigm change towards community philanthropy and trust-based philanthropy happening worldwide.
That is why we are excited to launch Proximate Brasil, a new project for Proximate, in partnership with Philó | Práticas Filantrópicas, that uses solutions journalism to amplify emerging models for participatory problem-solving across Brazil.
Participatory problem-solving refers to innovative models that shift power over decisions and resource allocation to people with lived experience – those proximate to the problem. It’s the focus of Proximate, a global nonprofit newsroom launched last year to cover conversations about shifting power in the systems that govern our world. It is also a central interest of Philó | Práticas Filantrópicas, an initiative that aims to unlock the transformative essence of philanthropy.
We’re launching this collaboration to learn and explore the growing movements for shifting power and community ownership that are currently taking place across Brasil.
The core of Proximate Brasil will be a series of stories and a newsletter for an audience of Brazilian and international changemakers and social impact leaders. This first issue has stories on alternative grantmaking models, new networks of social justice philanthropists, and perspectives on shifting power from practitioners.
This new paradigm will be difficult to face. It requires overcoming nothing less than what American author Barbara Christian calls the 'crime of innocence.’ There is no way to do this work without being asked to look inside ourselves and our organizations and face our participation in an unjust world. When we recognize and name the systems that tipped the scale in favor of our own wealth creation, it becomes easier to see that giving is about leveling and not about helping.
We must address the fear that bringing these progressive ideas to the Brazilian philanthropic field will hurt delicate egos and spook donors. We need to hear the voices from the peripheries of financial power to understand local social problems and decide together. We need to know where strategic philanthropy is as an asset (usually where there are mechanical processes to be implemented, like the logistics of vaccines) and where not. We need to recognize where the capital that fills philanthropic pots comes from because, when that happens, it becomes very clear that philanthropy is about reparation.
We hope this can be a conversation and welcome thoughts and ideas for topics we should cover at hello@proximate.press.
Thank you for joining us on this journey.
