The new face of Brazilian philanthropy

Through the political vicissitudes of the second half of the last century, Brazilian philanthropy has evolved from very traditional charity based on the tenets of the Catholic church to a strategic instrument for citizenship participation in a sustainable development process. Moreover, a new mood in both government and business offers the possibility of utilizing the best of all three sectors in transforming Brazilian society.

The problems with which the country has to contend present a grave challenge. According to the World Development Report, 2000/2001,[1] Brazil is the world's tenth largest economy, with a GNP of US$742.8 billion. But the same report indicates that Brazil entered the 21st century with 10 per cent of its population owning almost 47 per cent of the country’s wealth, while another 20 per cent of its people subsist on only 3.6 per cent.

Poverty is widespread; both educational attainment and health indicators remain low, in the latter case alarmingly so; regional imbalances are great; and income and wealth inequality has reached one of the highest levels among modern urban industrial societies. In spite of the ending, in 1985, of 20 years of military dictatorship, successive democratic governments have so far failed to guarantee the basic rights set out in the 1988 Constitution in health, education, housing and sanitation.

Recently, however, three developments have offered hope of more rapid progress towards an equitable society:

• the emergence of a civil society movement, which has resulted in the formation of thousands of new non-profit organizations;
• a growing awareness among the private sector that its skills, knowledge and networks could be turned to social ends;
• the inauguration in January 2003 of a new, democratically elected president, Luis Inácio Lula da Silva, and the launch of a number of initiatives which seem to mark the beginning of a new and fruitful era of cooperation between government and civil society.

Emergence of civil society

Since the country’s discovery in 1500, Brazilian philanthropy has been inspired by the Catholic Church, whose influence grew throughout the colonial period, the empire period and the republic. As a result, philanthropy became linked with the ideas of charity and mercy: giving to the poor was motivated by the misery of the poor and used by givers as a means of gaining forgiveness for their sins. Philanthropy thus became an activity of wealthy people wanting to save their souls. It became attached to the well-being of givers, based upon their understanding of the needs of the poor, and allowed them to be the sole decision-makers regarding the use of their money and areas of interest. Such philanthropy did not change the status quo of the poor, but it did play a unique role in fostering private hospitals and schools, and forging substantial values among the Brazilian elites.

In more recent times, the development of an effective Brazilian civil society was hampered by the military dictatorship (1964-85), under which any movement or organization that could be seen as challenging the regime was persecuted, and its leaders either disappeared, or were imprisoned or exiled. With the coming of democracy, however, this changed and the process was accelerated by subsequent political events. In 1992, President Collor de Melo underwent an impeachment process on the grounds of corruption, following a series of reports on corruption, some of which involved philanthropic institutions connected to elected officials.

The need for a civil society organization (CSO) capable of demonstrating to the country that community involvement is part of citizenship and that philanthropy is based on ethical behaviour prompted the establishment of GIFE (Group of Institutes, Foundations and Enterprises), a membership organization similar to the US Council on Foundations or the European Foundation Centre, but with corporations rather than foundations as members.

From this moment, Brazilian philanthropy gained momentum. In 1998, the Ethos Institute was created to lobby for corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate sustainability. In 1999, the Institute for the Development of Social Investment (IDIS) was created. It was the first non-profit-supporting organization whose purpose was to develop knowledge and expertise to address the needs of corporations, wealthy families, individuals and communities that decide to organize their giving to become social investors and social entrepreneurs. IDIS became instrumental in bringing new ways of making private social investment more strategic and relevant to Brazilian society.

Other elements of civil society have also evolved dramatically, with a rapid increase in the number and size of CSOs involved in development work in Brazil. It is estimated that 750,000 CSOs exist, of which 250,000 have reached some level of legal formality and 50,000 are active participants in the social and political life of Brazilian society.

CSOs are playing a leading role in transforming Brazilian society. They have demonstrated an ability to work with people in need and to deliver development services at a relatively low cost to a large number of people. This is generally endorsed by the Brazilian public. In a poll conducted in 2001 by the Brazilian Institute of Public Opinion (IBOPE) for the Brazilian Association of NGOs (ABONG), 58 per cent of respondents approved of NGOs’ impact (and 13 per cent disapproved), while 23 per cent agreed that NGOs have an important role to play in Brazil. The sector is based on entrepreneurship as well as volunteerism. Individuals looking for business opportunities and measurable results have generated a critical mass of ‘social entrepreneurs’.

But if it is non-profits that have been in the vanguard of this tendency, there are increasing signs that both the private sector and government have begun to move in the right direction.

Corporate social responsibility gaining ground

Another important development is that CSR has begun to feature on the agenda of business. Corporations are more interested in becoming part of their communities and in supporting public and private initiatives for the improvement of people's lives. According to the Institute for Economic Applied Research (IPEA) 2001 national survey, the social investments (cash gifts only) of companies in the formal sector in the urbanized, industrialized south-east totalled $1.5 billion. This region is home to half of Brazil’s companies and accounts for 60 per cent of its GNP. Two out of every three companies reported having made social investments, which ranged from small donations to individuals and institutions to large, structured projects. Almost half the large companies planned to increase social investment expenditure and more than one-third reported employee volunteerism.

Meanwhile, the success of the Ethos Institute, whose brief is to lobby for CSR, has been tremendous. It has more than 700 associated companies, some of which have created foundation-type organizations that have themselves become full members.

In addition, there has been a growing awareness among the Brazilian public of corporate citizenship. Consumers and investors are paying more attention to companies’ business practices and their impact on stakeholders, communities and society at large. An international survey in 2002[2] found that 51 per cent of those interviewed had ‘punished’ companies for ‘socially irresponsible behaviour’ relating to customer services and relations, environmental policy, etc, by criticizing them to colleagues, friends or relatives; and 30 per cent had refused to purchase products or services from these ‘socially irresponsible’ companies. Brazilians gave the highest ratings to companies committed to good environmental performance in their operations (81 per cent), those playing a role in reducing the gap between rich and poor (60 per cent) and those supporting community projects and charities (59 per cent).

The picture emerging is of a rapidly evolving new philanthropic culture in Brazil among individuals, communities and corporations, which comprehends both pragmatic and ethical concerns about social inequalities, sees the potential of fostering private initiative and drawing on stocks of social, human and financial capital to improve conditions in society, and sets new trends in multi-sectoral partnerships.

Two examples illustrate the way current Brazilian philanthropy is emerging as a potentially important instrument of social change.

The Abrinq Foundation

In 1989, the Brazilian Association of Toy Manufacturers (Abrinq) established the Board for the Defence of Children’s Rights, on the principle that responsibility for the well-being of children does not lie with the government alone but with society as a whole.

The Board decided to organize a group of philanthropists around this common cause and created the Abrinq Foundation for Children’s Rights (FADC), involving partners from several different social sectors (mainly business people). The Foundation focuses on mobilizing support and encouraging participation rather than helping children directly (in nursery schools and other institutions, for instance).

Abrinq began work in São Paulo and is now active throughout Brazil. Its 16 main projects and programmes involve about 35 per cent of municipalities in Brazil and cover 43 per cent of the country’s population. There is a high degree of local authority involvement. For example, Prefeito Criança (Child Friendly Mayor) supports mayors’ efforts to prioritize child welfare and involves 23 million children. Crer para Ver (Believe to See) supports evaluation efforts that improve the quality of public schools. The strength of Abrinq has been its ability to involve a range of supporters and partners, not only from government, business and domestic civil society, but among intergovernmental organizations and international NGOs too.

The Institute for the Development of Social Investment

While corporate philanthropy has made great strides in recent years, individual philanthropy to meet community needs is still Brazil’s biggest source of giving, representing more than 65 per cent of the country’s philanthropy. However, when the Institute for Development of Social Investment (IDIS) started to research local philanthropy and its problems, it found local philanthropy to be paternalistic and ‘traditional’ without any major commitment to changing the status quo.

IDIS has established a programme to foster the institutional development of community philanthropy in Brazil through local community philanthropy organizations (CPOs). The programme’s priorities for 2000–04 are:

• technical assistance and training to support skill development, the spreading of new ideas by sponsoring conferences, seminars and workshops, conducting training and educational activities, and organizing a resource group of community philanthropy expertise;
• sharing information by publishing relevant basic materials in manuals and handbooks in Portuguese;
• researching factors that help or hinder the growth of community philanthropy, illustrating best practices, identifying emerging donors, and establishing benchmarks and indicators for building local philanthropy and social investment;
• promoting networking opportunities, nationally and internationally, linking support organizations, strengthening peer exchange opportunities, and creating opportunities for discussion groups through IDIS’s community philanthropy web page.

The programme is now working in six cities in the state of São Paulo, the richest state in the country. Each community has established a CPO that is led by community leaders from the business sector, civil society and local government. Private, voluntary and public resources are thus being used in a complementary way.

Changes in the political climate

Government has failed to meet the targets set for it by the 1988 Constitution, and generally it has lagged behind civil society in devising innovative ways of tackling social problems. In recent years, however, even before the election of President Lula, it has begun to show greater willingness to cooperate with citizens’ groups. There are two main reasons for this: its recognition that it cannot cope alone with the growing public demand for more and improved services; and its realization that local community organizations can provide more accurate and representative information about needs, which makes provision of public services by government agencies easier and more effective.

But the pace of change has quickened since January 2003 when President Lula was inaugurated. With a background in the labour movement, he has made an important contribution to establishing a new understanding of how unions, social movements and political parties can work together for social ends.

Several initiatives have been launched since his inauguration:

• A National Council on Economic and Social Development has been created, comprising 83 members, a third of whom represent CSOs.
• A special secretariat at the presidential office has been established to make communication between government and civil society easier. A former president and CEO of the Abrinq Foundation was invited to lead the new office.
• A major social programme, Fome Zero (Zero Hunger), has been established to mobilize society on the issue of food security. The programme requires the participation of government, businesses, CSOs, churches and universities at different levels (federal, state and local) and on different issues (such as, for example, food security, production and distribution, distribution of monthly payments to poor families).
• A number of civil society leaders have been given positions in government. Among environmental NGOs and CBOs alone, 400 individuals have been co-opted by government.

The future – cooperation or takeover?

The 1990s has seen great development of Brazil’s philanthropic/voluntary sector. CSOs have growing experience of, and expertise in, addressing social problems. Group and individual giving is being reorganized along more strategic lines, with good examples of individual and family philanthropy and philanthropy circles being created and nurtured. Government has begun to respond to this, and the steps described above apparently mark the start of a new phase in the relationship between government, business and civil society.

Scepticism and mistrust die hard, however, and questions remain unanswered. Are civil society leaders being co-opted by the new government because it does not have a majority in the Congress and therefore needs to gain popular support? Or because the government wants to achieve a more participatory model of governance that is moving from a representative democracy towards a participatory one based on CSOs and social movements? Is it a strategy for diminishing the pressure civil society could potentially exert on government, by co-opting leaders who cannot be speedily replaced?

Nor is this scepticism exclusively directed towards government. In the 2001 (IBOPE) poll mentioned earlier, respondents pointed to the need for civil society to be accountable, too. Twenty-three per cent of respondents felt that NGOs should report on their sources of funding;18 per cent felt that they should be overseen by the state, while 12 per cent felt they should be overseen by society.

These cautionary notes notwithstanding, new forms of collaboration between all three sectors present an opportunity to combine private and public resources, individual talents, and creativity for the overall benefit of the nation, and to adopt or adapt successful pilot projects led by civil society organizations as public policy. The presidency of Lula will show whether or not this opportunity is to be taken.

1 World Development Report 2000/2001.

2 By Indicador Opiniao Publica.

Marcos Kisil is President, Institute for the Development of Social Investment (IDIS), São Paulo, Brazil. He can be contacted at mkisil@idis.org.br