Beyond funding: Exploring participatory practices in the Gulbenkian Foundation’s management of the Active Citizens Fund

The philanthropic task has become more complex due to disruptions caused by the global pandemic, persistent socio-economic inequalities, increasing polarisation, institutional racism, and the widespread impacts of climate change. These factors continuously challenge the legitimate and fundamental aims of philanthropy.

Philanthropic organisations are also increasingly required to ensure high standards of accountability and transparency. People want more insight into the decisions that affect their lives and communities, leading to a call for greater public involvement in decision-making processes across all sectors.

As a result, both new and established philanthropic foundations are actively seeking innovative approaches to funding, organisational structuring, and management systems that are most suitable for navigating the unique challenges of the 21^st century, broadening inclusive approaches, especially in grant-giving processes, but not limited to that.

Participation[1] is currently used as an inspiration in various areas of intervention and an increasing number of foundations are exploring and implementing participatory methods. For instance, in its Strategic Review 2023-2027, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (CGF) framed the strengthening of its objective to support participatory methods in the following way:

“The Foundation’s collaborators and external interlocutors agree in their desire for a more courageous, participatory and diverse Foundation, which includes beneficiaries in the design of its initiatives and support.”.

Typically, beneficiaries include community members and other actors who are greatly impacted by the issues that the funder is trying to address. Additionally, stakeholders may include individuals and organisations, such as past or potential grant recipients, that work with the community to tackle these issues.

Active Citizens Consultative Group: first empirical results

The Active Citizens Fund (ACF) is a programme under the EEA Grants dedicated to supporting civil society. The EEA Grants are financial resources provided by Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway to assist less prosperous countries of the European Union, including Portugal, in exchange for their participation in the European Economic Area. The ACF aims to strengthen civil society by promoting democratic participation, active citizenship, and human rights. In Portugal, the ACF is managed by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (CGF) in partnership with the Bissaya Barreto Foundation.

In the period from 2018 to 2024, a total of €11.5 million has been allocated, funding 182 projects that have reached over 65,000 individuals. These projects are focused on four areas of action: i) democracy, active citizenship, good governance, and transparency; ii) human rights and equal treatment by addressing any form of discrimination; iii) social justice and the inclusion of vulnerable groups; iv) capacity-building of NGOs.

To support participatory methods, ACF established a Consultative Group (CG) made up of ultimate beneficiaries (citizens) of the programme, in addition to its intermediary beneficiaries (NGOs). In February 2024, with the academic guidance of Professor Margarida Gaspar de Matos (Lisbon University/Catholic University of Lisbon) and Professor Emily Özer (UC Berkeley School of Public Health), ACF mobilised its 182 projects to propose the engagement of citizens who had been involved in its last funding cycle, envisioning the establishment of a participatory group.

The 26 members of the CG were selected through a competitive call. Individuals were required to submit a short video answering shared questions designed to capture motivation. The selection process aimed for diversity in terms of age, gender, geographical coverage, thematic areas of ACF, and various other criteria related to ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, disability, among others. The group was officially established in March 2024 and included citizens aged 18 to 82 years old, safeguarding all the above-mentioned aspects.

The group had a clear mandate, established over a 9-month period through in-person and virtual meetings. The group focused on the current “post-grant phase” of ACF, but also at a “pre-grant phase”, aiming to achieve three outputs: a) engage in the fund’s evaluation, through individual impact narratives video recordings and an academic paper (in ongoing production) about ACF’s impact; b) provide insights for a potential future funding round of ACF, and; c) support in co-designing the programme’s final conference scheduled for November 20, 2024. The group met monthly and undertook various activities between these gatherings. Additionally, a WhatsApp group was established at their request.

The results of this consultative group are still in progress, and the final outcomes will be presented at ACF’s November conference, along with the insights and impacts harvested by the academics. However, there is strong empirical evidence that several positive outcomes are being achieved, underscoring the importance of engaging citizens as stakeholders of philanthropic foundations.

Firstly, there is a clear benefit in terms of relevance, as citizens have a deep understanding of the needs and challenges within their communities, organisations, and causes. Engaging them as stakeholders is crucial for foundations to gain valuable insights, ensuring that their programmes and initiatives genuinely address real issues rather than perceived problems.

Secondly, citizen involvement as stakeholders compels philanthropic foundations to be more accountable to the communities they serve. This engagement fosters trust and increases accountability, as people feel they have a meaningful say in how resources are allocated and utilised.

Thirdly, the diversity of perspectives is broadened. Citizens, particularly those directly affected by issues, often provide unique and innovative solutions that foundations might overlook. Including marginalised or underrepresented groups as stakeholders ensures that programmes are inclusive and address inequities that might otherwise go unnoticed.

Finally, in addition to the gains for the programme, we must not ignore the impact of the citizens’ involvement with the programme on themselves. In the group, an increased sense of pride, belonging, and shared mission has been clearly observable. For some, participation in the group was an extra post-project push that has built their confidence. This additional outcome must not be overlooked.

Concluding remarks

For philanthropic foundations, this type of exercise seems to effectively contribute to broadening the capacity to ensure a deeper understanding of the problems to be addressed. By giving voice to local contexts, individuals and causes, this exercise has shown to be particularly valuable in informing the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation about a possible future round of ACF funding.

On a wider scale, this type of practice contributes to the functioning of democratic systems, as participating in an action research project provides citizens with a unique platform to actively exercise and refine democratic skills. This includes honing the art of organisation, delving into specialised knowledge, confidently articulating ideas and results in a public forum, and adeptly navigating conflicts to transform them into valuable opportunities for collective learning.

As caveats, since participation can take various forms, it seems important for each organisation to adapt the methods to the needs and objectives it has at any given time. It also seems crucial in this process to be clear to those involved about the objectives, the expectations of the organisation, and the limits of participation, first and foremost in terms of time, but not solely.

Participatory exercises such as the Active Citizens Consultative Group seem inherently imbued with the democratic values of empowerment, collaboration, and skill development. While further research will be conducted, first impressions about this experience are worth sharing with the broader ecosystem of foundational philanthropy in Europe, hopefully as inspiration for others to build from.

[1] Participation is considered a constitutional right in many European democracies. It encompasses a wide range of activities and practices through which citizens can engage in political and civic processes, influence decision-making, and contribute to shaping public policies. The concept of participation is, however, used in a broad way, encompassing diverse forms of citizen mobilisation for various processes. According to Falanga (2015), “although the concept of participation seems intuitive, as it refers to the inclusion of new actors in decision-making processes, it actually reveals great complexity” (p. 197).

This article is part of a series marking the one year anniversary of the international edition of ‘Philanthropy Back the Drawing Board‘. Guest curated by the book’s author, Rien van Gendt, the series shares insights on the prevailing topics and trends in the philanthropy sector:

• “Philanthropy Back to the Drawing Board”: One year on – Rien van Gendt, Van Gendt Philanthropy Services
• Plurality in philanthropy: balancing long-term impact and urgent needs – Carol Mack, Association of Charitable Foundations
• Beyond trust: How philanthropy should move towards more flexible funding to maximise impact – Bathylle Missika, OECD
• Wilde Ganzen’s journey with participatory grantmaking – Reham Basheer, Wilde Ganzen
• Beyond funding: Exploring participatory practices in the Gulbenkian Foundation’s management of the Active Citizens Fund – Pedro Calado, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian
• Reflections on global philanthropy for greater impact: A value-based holistic approach rooted in experience – Runa Khan, Friendship