A confluence of forces in 2016 brought together one of philanthropy’s most inspiring and dynamic movements for change

Launch of #ShiftThePower at the Global Summit on Community Philanthropy, Johannesburg, 2016. Credit: GFCF

It started with a hashtag to promote an event. It was 2016 and the Global Fund for Community Foundations (GFCF) was organising the first Global Summit on Community Philanthropy in Johannesburg. We were looking for a catchy hashtag that would convey the idea that this event was going to be a bit different from the run-of-the-mill philanthropy conference, and that would appeal to a broad audience of changemakers around the world.

And so, we landed on #ShiftThePower. The beauty of it was that it spelt nothing out explicitly. Instead, it simply put the question of power – and the imperative to ‘shift’ it – on the table as a topic for global discussion. And seated alongside it, perhaps somewhat incongruously, but very deliberately, was community philanthropy.