Webinar discusses impacts of the pandemic on philanthropy

Event held by Movimento Bem Maior highlighted opportunities and challenges posed by Covid-19 for the culture of donation.

The impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on philanthropy around the world, the collaborative work between the Third Sector, companies and governments, the philanthropic family legacy and endowment funds were some of the themes of the webinar “ Dialogues of the Greater Good Movement: Strategic Philanthropy in Brazil and the World ”, held this Thursday (29/10). The series of events, highlighted the executive director of Movimento Bem Maior, Carola Matarazzo, aims to amplify the voice of organized civil society and bring diversity to the horizon of strategic philanthropy in the country.

The opening words were from Clare Woodcraft, executive director of the Center for Strategic Philanthropy at the University of Cambridge, who presented the first results of the “ Philanthropy in the Time of Coronavirus ” survey. The objective of the study was to evaluate philanthropy in emerging countries in the context of the pandemic in order to identify opportunities and challenges.

According to Clare, the research brought three main findings: the empowerment of recipient organizations from emerging countries, such as Brazil, which began to implement better management practices; a more flexible and less bureaucratic process for donations to institutions, and a change in the North-South donation dynamics, with a closer relationship between philanthropists and Third Sector recipients to ensure a more positive impact.

Moderated by Flávio Castro, managing partner of FSB Comunicação, participants also noted the importance of companies systematizing a philanthropic policy, avoiding the risk of fragmentation of actions. Elie Horn, CEO of Cyrela and co-founder of MBM, highlighted that to create impactful philanthropic policies, it is necessary to focus and invest in research.

“We need evidence that an intervention will actually work. We believe that people in poverty need x or y, without data. We need to know the gaps to be filled. And understand what each person is doing, because perhaps another institution has already found an efficient way of dealing with the same problem and the answer may lie in partnerships and collaborative work”, highlighted Clare.

Rubens Menin, CEO of MRV Engenharia and co-founder of MBM, highlighted that, although we have several great social impact projects, there is still a great shortage of options when you want to donate:

“When we have good projects, donors come. So, to win this game, we need this tripod: have good projects, involve citizens more in philanthropy and put companies in the game. Adding these three points, we return to what is most important: showing society how doing good returns to society as a whole, not just to those who receive the resources.”

Eugênio Mattar, CEO of Localiza and also co-founder of MBM, highlighted the importance of family legacy and networking for strengthening philanthropy:

“The more families and companies start investing in philanthropy, the more legacy we will leave. And when it expands in our personal scope, bringing friends to our network, which is what we are doing at Bem Maior, bringing people, companies, governments and institutions, we solidify the importance of philanthropy and make it perennial”.

The integration of efforts in times of Covid-19 was also the topic of the seminar, with emphasis on the presentation by Patrícia Villela, president of Humanitas360 and founder of Civi-Co:

“I feel that today there is a greater appetite for debate on public policies because civil society has demanded it, and I notice the appetite for the integration of some parts of the government, but in a preponderant way, of Justice. The National Council of Justice, together with Humanitas, has proposed innovative activities within a system that greatly lacks a deeper and more transformative look, which is the penitentiary system. In the context of the pandemic, the CNJ allowed us to introduce technological systems so that social visits could be made during the period of restriction of physical contact and this meant that the great possibilities of new riots were reduced by improving the quality of life, not only for the imprisoned, but for public servants of the system. And the new thing is that we are going to transform this into a distance learning platform. We are already in 3 states: Maranhão, Paraíba and Rio Grande do Norte”, said Patrícia.

Enddowns, or equity funds, which ensure the longevity of project financing, were also on the agenda at the meeting. José Ermírio de Moraes Neto, Executive President of the Board of Trustees of the AC Camargo Cancer Center Hospital, participated in the webinar and spoke about the endowment in the research area:

“AC Camargo currently invests R$50 million per year in oncology research. The idea is to create a fund worth one billion reais in the next 10 years, matching with the private sector in order to achieve a certain self-sustainability”.

Finally, the panel participants highlighted that the fight to guarantee fundamental rights has almost become a privilege and that we, who are in this privileged position, need to choose to seek new paths:

“We absolutely cannot fail to understand that we will only be prosperous if more people enjoy prosperity. I feel like we ended this conversation with an extreme sense of discomfort. But I also think this is a step forward, because only when we all decide to feel uncomfortable, as the majority already do, will we be able to call ourselves all us and there will no longer be us and them”, concluded Patrícia.

The Webinar is now available on the Movimento Bem Maior YouTube channel. Watch: