By Semiramis Biasoli
We live, after all, in the era of globalization, in which “each part of the world is, more and more, part of the world and the world, as a whole, is increasingly present in each of the parts. This is true not only for nations or peoples, but for individuals” (MORIN, 2003:67).
Crossing the Atlantic Ocean, the 3D image of the Earth accessed in real time, during the 11h flight, stimulates the perception of the connections between us, 8 billion humans and every piece of our small and beautiful planet, a habitat that we share with millions of other species of living beings.
Landing on European soil, the joy of contact with the diversity of cultures, languages and history immediately comes. The Netherlands, more specifically, the peaceful and flowery city of Noordwijkerhout, was the place where the “big meeting” took place: IFC 2022 – International Fundraising Conference (from English Fundraising), led by Resource Alliance, with the in-person participation of 700 people from different countries.
During four intense days, we shared experiences, built new ideas and thoughts and connected – people and institutions within a collaborative perspective, in the search to qualify the impact of philanthropy and the culture of donation in the construction of new civilizational paths.
I speak in the plural because I was not alone, but in a delegation of Brazilian women, representatives of eight social organizations, which make up the Conexão Captadoras women's movement, adding to the other Latin American representatives present, a minority participation of 2% of the total number of attendees. Below is a statement from a fellow traveler:
“As it was my first participation in this event, I was very impressed with the structure, the organization, the speakers' CVs and the diversity of organizations and fundraisers from all over the world present at the congress. The philanthropic entity that I am part of put together a lot of efforts so that I could be present, and I believe that this effort was rewarded with the quality and importance of the discussions in which we participated in person” (Iris Farias, Londrina Cancer Institute).
The Conference featured an extensive program via lectures, workshops, dialogue circles, among other activities, which can be viewed from four main axes: i) national and international companies, ii) individual giving, iii) Networking, iv) communication.
The harvest of this rich process can be approached from the concept of “donor’s journey”. Journey meaning “the journey that is taken”, and going further seeking the figurative meaning of “a meeting of events that, in some way, can make an action and its consequences understandable”.
Initially, understand the journey of philanthropy and the culture of donation as an action to reduce the inequalities we find on the planet, from an economic perspective (rich, developing countries, poor countries) and going beyond, to bring the vision of justice : social, cultural, political, or how we encompass this whole in environmental education, within the concept of socio-environmental justice.
Being an organization, or professional that makes up the ecosystem of philanthropy and socio-environmental justice, requires a series of objective capabilities: financial resources, professional team, investments in technologies, robust communication strategies, constant updating of procedures, maintenance and building of relationships, among others, and during the IFC methods, experiences and strategies were shared, in search of the improvement of its participants.
However, a concept that marked me in my work at IFC is the attention to the “donor’s journey”: This concept is translated, from the perspective of environmental education, under the aegis of subjectivity, which begins with working internally Krishnamurti (2009) , and highlights the importance of putting oneself in the donor's shoes and being open to dialogue (Bohn, 2005), exercising active listening and thus allowing the emergence of something new and the effective completion of the donation cycle.
Integrate the Rede Comuá’s Professional Capacity Strengthening Program allowed me to participate in the Conference in fundraising IFC, opened doors, brought new knowledge and relationships and leaves a legacy about the importance of the place we occupy, FunBEA together with the other members of the Comuá Network, as mobilizers of resources, moving them from the hands, or from the choices and decision-making of individuals, companies and organizations, placing them at the service of reducing socio-environmental inequality and building new paths for a world immersed in the climate emergency.
The Conference opened the work, with the invitation to change: “Shaping the future together”. I want to close this text, inviting us to change the present: today is the day to contribute and add to the fight against climate chaos, in the fight for the movement of resources in favor of the excluded, in favor of endangered species, in favor of socio-environmental justice, and thus, we will have chances to change the future. As? I leave it to each and every one of us to reflect and find our participation in this journey that is individual and necessarily collective. For my part, in a future article, I will bring information and reflections on each of the axes worked on at IFC, nourishing us for our journeys.
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Participation in this activity was made possible by the Professional Capabilities Strengthening Program, within the scope of the Comuá Network Strategic Support Program, whose objective is to support the development and strengthening of the professional skills and capabilities of technical staff from member organizations, expanding and deepening their knowledge and strengthening its activities in the fields of community philanthropy and social justice.
References:
BOHM, D. Dialogue: communication and social networks. São Paulo: Palas Athena, 2005.
MORIN, Edgar. The seven pieces of knowledge necessary for the education of the future. 8. ed. São Paulo: Cortez; Brasília, DF: UNESCO, 2003.
KRISHNAMURTI, J. About Happiness. In: . Accessed on: 11/21/2022.
,https://www.krishnamurti.org.br/?q=node%2F186
Semiramis Biasoli has a doctorate in public environmental education policies from ESALQ/USP (2015), founding associate and general secretary of FunBEA – Brazilian Environmental Education Fund, lawyer, specialist in Management and Environment from Unicamp/SP (2004), consultant and environmental educator for socio-environmental projects, programs and public policies.
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