The Poor Philanthropist: How and why the poor help each other

Book 10 of 10

This monograph documents the results of a qualitative research inquiry conducted by the Building Community Philanthropy Project into the philanthropic impulse and behaviour of the poor. It documents the comparative findings across four countries – Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe – into how and why people who are poor help each other.

 

Describing the ethos of help among the poor, the monograph explores how philanthropy is organised – its purpose, rules of engagement, form and content, its actors and the motivations behind it.

 

This monograph suggests that two types of community philanthropy co-exist:

·         ‘philanthropy of community’ (PoC) – that is the ‘horizontal’ relations of ‘help’ among and between the poor exemplified in self help; and

·         ‘philanthropy for community’ (PfC) – the more conventional philanthropic orthodoxy of ‘vertical’ resource transfers from rich to poor exemplified in development assistance and charity.

 

The multidimensional view of philanthropy described by the authors has significant implications for social investment and pro-poor development initiatives.  Supported by the Ford Foundation, and published by the University of Cape Town, this monograph will be of interest to practitioners of community development, organized philanthropy, social investment and corporate social responsibility.