By Mônica Ribeiro
Over the last three years, the Philanthropy Network for Social Justice (RFJS) has undergone a strengthening process that included institutional organization and consolidation (2018), articulation and representation (2019) and strengthening of the Network and the field.
The result of this journey is now gathered in the RFJS 2018-2020 Activity Report, now available for reading and download.
The year 2018 marked the repositioning of the Network as a space for articulating the national and thematic funds that comprise it, giving visibility to its actions and partnerships in the field. In this context, RFJS starts to see the production of knowledge as an action of articulation, resulting in partnerships and promoting practices focused on grantmaking supporting civil society, with the aim of consolidating agendas in the field of community philanthropy and social justice.
The year 2019 marks the strengthening of the Network through continuous articulations with strategic actors related to the philanthropic ecosystem in Brazil and also in the international field. It was also the period in which the articulations aimed at mobilizing resources to strengthen the RFJS gained strength. Further strengthening the institutional consolidation movement, the Network developed its Theory of Change and strategic planning.
The development of initiatives related to programmatic areas and the consequent strategic strengthening of the Network marked the year 2020. A program to strengthen its members was developed, involving the Capacity Building and Support Program (sub-grants). Based on the work of listening to demands and challenges with member organizations and partners, the activities were carried out in an integrated manner through the production of mutual contributions between the action fronts, involving teams, optimizing resources and expanding engagement. The set of programmatic adaptations made to contribute to the challenges in the context of the pandemic stands out, seeking to strengthen the performance of member organizations.
Still in 2020, the Network was invited to participate in a consortium involving eight countries and 13 organizations, to prepare a proposal, in the context of Dutch cooperation: the Donate to Transform Program. Lasting five years, the action aims to promote community philanthropy and social justice as a strategy to leverage development led by communities, strengthening the demand for rights.
The expectation is that RFJS can strengthen its activities by focusing on the national and international philanthropic field, increasing engagement and, consequently, the mobilization of resources to strengthen civil society organizations, especially those that work in the field of defense of rights.
The full report can be accessed here.
