By Candace Maria Albertal Lessa
Brazil has been changing dramatically since the end of the military dictatorship: it is a consolidated democracy and a model economy ranking between 5th and 7th place in global economic indices, often above France and Italy. However, this state of affairs has not eradicated social, racial and economic inequalities that are leftovers from a history of slavery and patriarchy. That there have been enormous social advances in modern Brazil is unquestionable and the role of civil society organizations in this process has been key. However, the lack of an infrastructure for CSOs (resources, favorable regulation, etc.) and a recent change in international cooperation from north to south, has greatly affected CSOs, especially those organizations that address social justice issues, and are at the “front”, at the very grassroots level where much of the processes of change originate, take shape and inform society.
Several landmarks have marked contemporary history of civil society organizations: the establishment the Brazilian Association of NGO’s (ABONG), the development of a strong Corporate Social Responsibility culture in Brazil and many CSR-related NGO’s, the departure of many northern funders from Brazil, the nationalization of international organizations, and the creation of several networks that are working with the fiscal and legal environment for CSOs.
One recent and very key development has been the emergence of Brazilian grantmakers.
Seven such organizations make up the network of new Brazilian grantmakers: Baoba (Brazilian Fund for Racial Equity) , Elas (the Brazilian Women’s Fund), Fundo Brasileiro de Direitos Humanos (Brazilian Human Rights Fund) , Casa (Social Environmental Fund) , Brazil Foundation and two community foundations, Instituto Rio and ICom- Instituto Communitario Grande Florianopolis.
All of the organizations were set up in or after the year 2000 and constitute a specific phenomenon in the history of the Brazilian citizen sector and in the philanthropic culture in Brazil. While these organizations have strong links to the social movements, they are not advocacy groups, program operators or service providers, but are channels that offer the infrastructure and resources for the movements and their organizations. While they practice ‘private social investment’ (the concept used in Brazil in lieu of philanthropy), they differ greatly from the business-origin organizations that have defined/represented the contemporary philanthropic sector and culture in Brazil. They also differ from classic grantmakers and funds of Europe and the US that may have served as models or points of reference for these organizations. The fiscal possibilities in Brazil for nonprofit organizations and the legislation to which they must adhere does not accommodate the foreign model nor the cultural innovation that they represent in Brazil. These seven organizations focus on social justice and social change, they were set up by activists of different social movements or by supporters of social movements, they have independent governance structures and they are grantmakers working at the national level. While all of these organizations were set up with resources from foreign funders (Ford, Kellogg, Avina, IAF among other foundations, different global funds and diaspora funding), all are truly Brazilian organizations because of their rootedness in indigenous social movements and networks.
The organizations that so far make up the network of new Brazilian grantmakers have been gathering organically since their inception—through fellow networks, in meetings organized by common funders and other international and national meetings. There was a proactive effort by the Synergos Institute to create a network of grantmakers, but this was before the organizations could self identify and gather momentum as a group. In the last four years, the Fundo Elas, perhaps the oldest of these organizations, organized a sequence of meetings that contributed to the energy to recently create what now is the informal network.
Concomitantly, other factors have added to a favorable moment for a network of Brazilian grantmakers and a very specific role for such a network in the front of change. These factors include GIFE’s (Grupo de Institutos, Fundacoes e Empresas/Group of Institutes, Foundations and Businesses) effort to diversify its members, the D3 group’s effort to increase the sustainability of citizen sector organizations and the work of the Task Force (Grupo de Trabalho do Marco Legal) to change the legislation for nonprofit organizations.
The network of Brazilian grantmakers seeks to contribute towards the broader efforts to create a favorable and dynamic infrastructure for the nonprofit sector by increasing local (Brazilian) resources for human rights, racial and gender equality through the consolidation of the grantmaking model, increasing the number of grantmakers, diversifying the philanthropic culture, and increasing individual and family giving in general, and specifically for the causes of social justice.
The task at hand is not simple. As Tom Jobim (composer of the famous song from 1965 ‘Girl from Ipanema’) said, “Brazil is not for beginners”. It is impossible to imagine that a consolidated democracy like Brazil, with such a strong, dynamic, progressive and innovative citizen sector, an active business sector with exemplary corporate social responsibility activity, one of the 10 richest nations in the world, does not generate independent investments for human rights, racial and gender equality.
Since the Rio 92 conference, a landmark of corporate social responsibility in Brazil, private social investment in Brazil has been increasing dramatically especially by business-origin organizations. According to surveys carried out by GIFE every two years, these investments are concentrated in education, youth and employment, arts, culture, sports and environment. However, NO amount from this most significant source of resources is invested in human rights, race and gender equality. Most of the resources that have been invested in the social movements and in organizations that support social movements to date have come from international organizations.
However, now, in the face of diminishing international resources on the one hand and increased economic capacity of Brazil on the other, there is a need for a new scenario. Because of the origin, mission, nature and historical timing of the new Brazilain grantmakers, they are well positioned to collaborate towards a new scenario in which local resources support social justice work.
Candace (Cindy) Lessa is the coordinator of this informal network of Brazilian grantmakers. To know more write to her at calessa@alternex.com.br