Working with communities key to future of philanthropy

Many communities affected by crises in the Middle East are hitting absurd milestones this year. In March, the Syrian people entered their 14th year of war and displacement. In August, the Yazidi people will commemorate 10 years since the start of their genocide at the hands of Daesh. In October, the people of Lebanon will begin their fifth year of socioeconomic displacement due to criminal negligence. In November, the Palestinian people will have reached 107 years of systemic oppression since the Balfour Declaration.
At a time of so much pain and when vicious cycles of history are on repeat mode, it has never been so crucial to hold space for our communities and create more space for philanthropy. How do we close the gap between the needs of communities and philanthropic engagement?
As a philanthropist and humanitarian diplomat who invests in documenting evidence of crimes of genocide in the Middle East and South Caucasus and as an entrepreneur who has built a business in Saudi Arabia that manages community-centered research projects to drive national policies and programs, I know that the dearth of high-quality data in our region prevents us from answering this key question. I grabbed the opportunity when the Pearl Initiative and Circle MENA, with the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, recommended that we co-invest in research to better understand next-generation philanthropy in the Middle East.
With the help of 83 next-generation givers and after a lot of data and number-crunching sessions, we published the first next-generation philanthropy report in the region. It is titled, “Grounded in tradition, looking to the future: Understanding next-generation philanthropy in the Middle East.” Here is some of what we learned:
While our region has a legacy of family foundations and family businesses driving charitable giving, 80 percent of our sample of next-generation philanthropists told us that their giving is very personal and individually driven. They are a lot less driven by social recognition — what matters to them is community impact, social change and meeting the needs of communities with transparency, accountability and sustainability. Values and principles are crucial in both the means and the ends of their impact-making efforts.
More than 80 percent of our sample hold a leadership position in their philanthropic organizations or individual-led activities, which means they have the power to give and a growing influence to create impact in our region. They are very well educated — more than 70 percent hold a master’s degree or doctorate. Our next-generation philanthropists predominantly come from business and entrepreneurship careers, but also hail from diverse backgrounds, from the not-for-profit sector to the arts and public service. They are also experienced in giving, with 50 percent of our sample having been involved in giving activities for eight years or more.

This very diverse group of young, rising and established philanthropists can greatly influence the trajectory of giving in the Middle East. Many have already been hard at work. The next-generation philanthropists who participated in our survey give an average of $50,001 to $100,000 every year, while almost 20 percent give more than $1 million per year.

Next-generation philanthropists in and from our region are seeking to get closer to the causes that they help. 

Lynn Zovighian

Next-generation philanthropists in and from our region are also seeking to get closer to the causes and communities that they support, with 60 percent of them prioritizing philanthropy in their countries of residence. Our research found that almost 60 percent believe that direct funding to causes is the most effective giving strategy and more than 50 percent primarily rely on information from beneficiaries and communities, while almost 50 percent consult community needs assessment reports. Additionally, more than 40 percent trust both beneficiaries and communities, as well as nonprofit and nongovernmental organization leaders when seeking information on the causes they serve.
So, where is the gap? With our advanced quantitative methods, we were able to understand that, while our community of next-generation philanthropists are very much using their power and privilege to drive good, not even 30 percent of them elevate and empower community leaders and beneficiaries as co-decision makers in their philanthropy.
We therefore understood that sharing and passing on power to the communities on the ground is not yet the practice of many next-generation philanthropists in or from our region. By not engaging with communities at very empowered levels of trust and agency, support for regional causes will always fall short in terms of impact and longevity, a major failing our region cannot afford.
Historically, legacy life support in our region has largely come from international humanitarian agencies and humanitarian diplomatic initiatives. Without trusted local NGOs and grassroots initiatives, it would be almost impossible for philanthropists to study crises and step up to serve. Many conflict zones are in hard-to-access areas, where global banking systems either demand enhanced due diligence or impose sanctions, preventing direly needed funding from reaching those most in need.
Some countries in the Middle East and beyond require engagement with ministries of foreign affairs and embassy counterparts for permits, an approval process that can take months or even result in a negative answer. As such, many philanthropists are dissuaded from attempting the journey. All this makes it exceedingly difficult for philanthropists to engage. Endangered communities in current and legacy conflict zones teach us that this giving model is far from good enough for survivors and victims.
We need to respond to this dangerous gap by bringing the needs of our communities as close as possible to next-generation philanthropists and we need to enable givers by facilitating their proximity to causes and communities on multiple levels, from accessible grounded evidence to facilitated banking to agile trust and relationship-building with front-liners and communities.
The digitalization of genocides and conflicts has brought us closer to intimately understanding the lived experiences of endangered communities. Next-generation philanthropists now need to move from being on the defensive to sustainably shifting to the offensive, hand-in-hand with community leaders, front-liners, women and children. The only way we are going to bring meaningful resolutions and peace to the many conflict-affected corners of our region is by working together. Power dynamics must be replaced with respect and empowerment, empathy must be enabled with technical rigor, and decisions from above and far away need to be traded for evidence-driven solutions and accountability, in which communities and their lived experiences and wisdom are put first.

• Lynn Zovighian is an entrepreneur, philanthropist, humanitarian diplomat and opera singer. She is the co-founder of the Zovighian Partnership and founder of the Zovighian Public Office.