Arquivo da tag: emergencies

Philanthropy as a key to responding to foreseeable tragedies

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Article originally published in Nexo Jornal, in Portuguese, 03/12/2025

By Karine Ruy (Gerações Foundation) and Paula Jancso Fabiani (IDIS)

January waters once again flood the news and, unfortunately, the cities and homes of hundreds of thousands of Brazilians. In 2021, floods hit southern Bahia; last year, Porto Alegre; and 2025 begins with São Paulo’s seaside and many other regions will face the same reality.

Brazilian climate-related disasters

In the last couple of years, Brazil has faced major climate change-related disasters. In 2021, heavy rains hit southern Bahia, and northern Minas Gerais, causing severe flooding. The government declared a state of emergency in 163 cities, leaving 26 people dead, 520 injured, as well as 28,224 people were left homeless and 73,032 displaced from their homes. 

In May 2024, major parts of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, including the capital Porto Alegre, were affected by severe flooding, leaving 496 cities impacted, 150,000 people displaced and even the state airport underwater for a couple of days. 

This year, heavy rains led to severe flooding in the state of São Paulo, causing transport chaos with many flooded streets and subway stations, as well as fallen trees.

On one side, there is the abundance of water; on the other, droughts. Even Amazon, known for its water availability, faced severe droughts, a cruel metaphor that illustrates the lack of financial resources allocated to emergencies such as these. In a scenario where extreme climate events are becoming more frequent and intense, exposing the vulnerability of our communities, 750,000 Brazilians have already been displaced due to natural disasters, whether being floods, droughts, landslides, among others. Globally, by 2023, the number of people displaced due to climate disasters had already sured those displaced by war, repression and violence, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

In this context, giving culture is essential. Strengthening philanthropy is crucial in order to promote initiatives that directly those affected by climate change. Donations and the work of CSOs (Civil Society Organizations) are often the first responses in times of crisis.

The recent experience in Rio Grande do Sul is an example of this. Several CSOs quickly mobilized to raise funds and help families affected by the floods. We saw a peak in donations and historic mobilization. Even with their headquarters flooded, organizations coordinated volunteers, distributed donations efficiently and raised financial resources to mitigate damages.

Photo of a visit made by the Gerações Foundation to the Camélia Institute after the floods that reached Porto Alegre and the nearby region. [Credit: Marcos Pereira Feição].

However, these actions also highlight existing challenges. Some organizations, for example, lacked enough volunteers to manage the large volume of donations, while others saw a dramatic decline in the incoming flow of financial resources as the tragedy faded away from the media spotlight. This is why knowledge of the territory and the regional outreach of local organizations are essential to ensure that resources efficiently reach those who need them most.

A territorial-focused approach emerges as a systemic and long-lasting solution to connect donors with local organizations. In Rio Grande do Sul, the ‘Fundo Comunitário Porto de Todos’, created by Gerações Foundation, ed local CSOs so that they could resume their activities after the floods. Similar initiatives have already been carried out in other regions, such as the ‘Fundo de Chuvas’, in the city of Florianópolis, created by ICOM (Instituto Comunitário Grande Florianópolis), and the ‘Fundo Brumadinho’, managed by Associação Nossa Cidade, which have demonstrated the effectiveness of this type of strategy.

In our current climate reality, tragedies like these, unfortunately, tend to become more and more common with increasing intensity. Being prepared for the next crisis even before the current one ends is essential. Territorial assessments and the ability of local Community Foundations (CFs) to mobilize multiple resources and assets in a structured way are indispensable tools for dealing with emergencies. Local leaders, with territorial knowledge, therefore play a crucial role in the efficient distribution of resources.

Strategic philanthropy may be the key to swiftly and effectively responding to tragedies. If you want to contribute, donate to local organizations, such as Community Foundations. We know disasters will continue to happen. The difference we can make is in how we respond to them. ing those who are already on the territory, with experience and commitment to the community, is the best way to minimize the devastating effects of climate change.

The transformation that 1% may cause

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*By Paula Fabiani, CEO of IDIS – Institute for the Development of Social Investment

Private social investment – the voluntary and strategic allocation of resources for the public good – is essential for resolving deep gaps in the socio-environmental development in the country. Although the State plays a crucial role, there is no way around it. There are several challenges when it comes to providing what is necessary for everyone’s well-being, whether due to Brazil’s continental dimensions or the enormity of the country’s problems that need solving. And that is where private social investment may and must act: contributing to reducing inequalities and mitigating environmental damages. Only with the collaboration between government, companies and society will we be capable of addressing effective and everlasting solutions.

When we talk about private social investment, we’re talking about BRL 4.8 billion in corporate donations, that is, donations made by companies, according to the GIFE census 2023. A significant amount, but still below the figures recorded in 2020, during the peak of the pandemic, when the private sector’s donations exceeded BRL 5.3 billion. The historical figure reinforces that the private sector can invest more – and better.

Through this vision and inspired by the North American movement, Pledge 1%, IDIS – Institute for the Development of Social Investment and Instituto MOL launched Commitment 1% in Brazil.

Launching event of Commitment 1% which happened in São Paulo in PwC Brazil’s headquarters.

The movement has the purpose of gathering companies that already donate at least 1% of their annual net profit, as well as those that have committed to reaching this amount of donations in up to two years. Cyrela, fama re.capital, Gaia Impacto, MOL Impacto, Pantys, PwC, RD Saúde and TozziniFreire Advogados are the first signatories of the commitment, as well as other organizations who are already at an advanced stage in the process of their adhesion.

Designed for companies of all sizes and sectors, Commitment 1% has the goal to drive companies’ involvement with the present and future of society, so that they will invest in projects and organizations who need resources to continue their journey. These are donations for essential organizations that transform the realities of communities in which they are inserted through education, culture, sports, healthcare, environmental and income-generating actions.

With private social investment, companies only stand to gain. Beyond the financial advantages, since it becomes easier to raise funds on the market, companies also improve their reputation, with bigger engagement from collaborators and a more solid relationship with suppliers and clients. It’s an ecosystem that positively impacts all stakeholders.

Creating possibilities for the growth of private social investment and promoting the habit of giving in the country is, without a shadow of a doubt, a path to strengthening organized civil society as an agent of positive socio-environmental changes. This journey can only be traced to people and businesses who believe in the mobilizing and sustainable power of strategic philanthropy and commit to the generation of positive impact. Just start by committing to 1%.

After all, it is now up to us to repair the mistakes of the past and build a future for those who will come. 

What has to happen for Brazilians to see donations as more than just a response to crises?

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Article originally published at Folha de S.Paulo in 09/04/2024

By Paula Fabiani, CEO of IDIS, and Luisa Lima, communication and knowledge manager

 

Altruism means spontaneous regard for the welfare of others. In broader , it refers to one’s ability to devote oneself to something or someone without expecting anything in return, moved solely by comion for a cause or situation. When it comes to altruism, we are also talking about donations.

In Brazil, the act of giving is widespread and socially acknowledged, especially in times of emergencies, as the one we recently saw in the floods that hit Rio Grande do Sul – a Brazilian state – in May of 2024, leaving 497 municipalities impacted and 150,000 people displaced. However, we still face many barriers, such as the donors’ distrust of the destination of donations and even the lack of alignment with certain causes and types of organizations. 

What has to happen for Brazilians to see donations not only as a response to crisis, but also as a path for a more just, equitable and generous world?

The recently launched World Giving Index 2024, one of the biggest researches about donations ever produced, with millions of people interviewed in the entire world since 2009, reveals a scenario that may look optimistic at first, but shows that we still have a long journey ahead when it comes to generosity. 

In this edition, WGI included data from 142 countries. Participants were asked if they had taken three types of actions in the last month: helped a stranger, donated money to a charity or volunteered their time to an organization. 

Brazil climbed three positions compared to the previous year and now occupies the 86th place in the ranking. The report points to a slight 3 percent increase in the amount of people donating money to civil society organizations. Helping a stranger is still the predominant behavior, practiced by 65% of respondents.

The survey carried out between September and November of 2023, does not capture the donations made due to the climate tragedy in Rio Grande do Sul.

In 2022, with the country still under the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, we were among the top 20 most solidary countries in the world. At the time, the study highlighted that 3 out of four Brazilians helped a stranger. 

However, since then, we have dropped more than 60 positions in the ranking. From this angle, it appears to be a discouraging result. But, in of absolute score, this was Brazil’s second biggest result since 2009.  

The research also presents inspiring world parameters for Brazil. In the last two years, many countries ed meaningful growth in their levels of generosity. Indonesia ranked as the world’s most generous country for the seventh year in a row, with 90% of the population donating money to social organizations and 65% volunteering their time.

Interestingly, among the top 10 most generous countries, only two are between the world’s biggest economies (Indonesia and the United States of America), while Gambia, one of the world’s poorest countries, occupies the 4th place.

Public policies designed to promote philanthropy, such as tax incentives, individual donations matching, and benefits to the practice of corporate volunteering, have had positive effects in Singapore and can be an example for Brazil.

The potential of the Brazilian donor in critical situations and emergencies is unquestionable. However, to strengthen the generosity and giving culture in the country, the practice of donating must become regular.

It is necessary to transform the act of giving into a continuous expression of citizenship and commitment, capable of generating positive and lasting socio-environmental impact in our society. True altruism manifests itself when the donations go beyond the immediate need and become a part of daily life. 

Emergency and Resilience: philanthropy strengthening communities

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By Beatriz Barros, project intern at IDIS

Social investment is about people. Prevention and care are also about people. At the 13th Brazilian Philanthropy Forum, with the theme ‘Interlaced Philanthropy’, the session ‘Emergency and Resilience: philanthropy strengthening communities’ discussed the imminent climate and sanitary crisis, talking about how emergency funds and donations can ease and prevent possible disasters. Present in the session were Giuliana Ortega (Sustainability Director at RD – Raia Drogasil), Karine Ruy (General Coordinator of the Gerações Foundation) and Marijana Sevic (Head of International Strategic Partnerships at Charities Aid Foundation), as well as Vinicius Barrozo (Social Value Analyst at Globo and responsible for the donation platform ParaQuemDoar) as the . 

 

Watch the entire session

 

 

The discussion about the recent climate and sanitary actions, besides the increase in armed conflicts, highlighted the urgency of creating plans, strategies, and investments that can prevent possible crises. Karine Ruy talked about the work made by Gerações Foundation in the floods that hit Rio Grande do Sul – a Brazilian state – in May of 2024, leaving 497 municipalities impacted and 150,000 people displaced. The institution created ‘Fundo Comunitário Porto de Todos’ to aid those affected by the event. She emphasized the importance of listening to the demands of the community for the reconstruction and mitigation of risks, as she says in her speech:

“We understood that our role at that moment was to be a coordinating organization, building bridges between different actors in the ecosystem that had this operational capacity, but mainly identifying – through a very careful hearing process – what were the demands of the communities and territories”, she said.

Another relevant aspect commented was the role of Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) in countries such as Ukraine and Morroccos, that faced different types of emergencies: the first, an armed conflict, and the second, an earthquake. Marijana Sevic commented on the demand for donations in these cases, which are quick and must be met efficiently and safely, an activity CAF has expertise in operating in more than 170 countries.

Another highlight was the actions taken by RaiaDrogasil during the COVID-19 pandemic. Giuliana Ortega shared that, at the time, the company created an investment fund, together with the Institute for the Development of Social Investment (IDIS), to offer infrastructure to small and medium hospitals, ensuring that those structures would endure long after the crises. The company also ed  mass vaccination in different cities through the ‘United for Vaccination’ movement. These actions led RaiaDrogasil to reflect on the donation of their own resources which made them establish their own Theory of Change, highlighted by Giuliana:

“Since 2021, we have established a policy and started investing 1% of our net profit in health actions in communities and society in general. […] Therefore, we had these new resources to think about and so we decided to institute our Theory of Change because the resources were increasing. We were going to channel this effort, and our main goal was to promote health”.

Further on in the session, Vinicius Barrozo presented the platform Para Quem Doar (For Whom to Donate, in english), which had a key role in integrating and directing donations during the pandemic and the floods in Rio Grande do Sul. The app connects donors  and organizations simply and securely. In order to encourage giving culture, a partnership between Globo, IDIS, and Instituto MOL was announced through the ‘Find Your Cause’ campaign, which helps the donner identify the areas most aligned with their own values and convictions. 

However, there are still some loose ends to interlace, such as the lack of commitment to donations and the delay of the planning and creation of emergency lines for climate and sanitary crises. It is crucial to encourage a giving culture that goes beyond disasters; to have a strategic view for the middle to long-term  reconstruction period, when the initial commotion subsides and, therefore, so do the investments; and to highlight  the crucial role of communication in emergencies, announcing in a clear and captivating way the purpose of the donation. These paths can help to untangle some resistant knots and strengthen ambition and strategies. 

 

Photos by: André Porto and Caio Graça/IDIS.

Brazilian companies are not prepared to respond to emergency situations

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By Andre Hanai, project manager at IDIS, and Paula Gonçalo, project coordinator at IDIS

About 25% of the deaths caused by rain in Brazil in the last 10 years occurred in 2022, and social investors must prepare more than ever for emergencies.

Between January 2013 and April 2022, natural disasters caused losses of R$341.3 billion throughout Brazil, according to data from a survey conducted by the National Confederation of Municipalities (CNM). The study also shows that in just the first three months of 2022, about eight million Brazilians had already been affected by some type of environmental disaster.

Speaking of numbers, another alarming fact on the subject comes from the government transition report released in late December 2022. It shows that the public money reserved for “ for emergency mitigation works for disaster reduction” was reduced from R$2.57 million to a mere R$25,000, becoming one of the budgetary bottlenecks for 2023.

In this context, solidarity has moved individuals and companies around emergency campaigns that seek to help communities most affected by natural disasters through the donation of food, clothing, medicine, etc., with Private Social Investment being a complementary alternative to public resources. The reduced volume of financial resources available and, mainly, the lack of coordination and strategic planning of actions show that there is a huge gap between social demands and the capacity of private social investors to respond to these tragedies, which increase in frequency and severity every year.

By definition, according to the ISDR – International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, a “disaster” is a “serious disruption of the functioning of a community or society, with impacts on people, goods, economy, and the environment, that exceeds the capacity of those affected to deal with the situation through the use of their resources.” The Covid-19 pandemic, a disaster of global proportions, has revealed the important role that companies can play in efforts to address emergencies, for example.

According to the 2020 Corporate Giving Ranking produced by IDIS – Institute for the Development of Social Investment, the ten companies that made the most donations and sponsorships in the world in 2020 allocated more than US$4 billion to Covid-19 response actions – equivalent to about R$20 billion. Meanwhile, in Brazil, the top ten corporate donors have given more than R$3 billion to the fight against the pandemic.

Floods in the State of Bahia in December 2021. Photo: Isac Nóbrega/PR

On the other hand, these numbers contrast with what had been observed as a trend in private social investment by companies focused on situations caused by disasters. According to the study Measuring the State of Disaster Philanthropy, conducted by Candid & Center for Disaster Philanthropy in 2019, although 70% of companies reported that disaster response is significant, the amount allocated to this type of action has been decreasing year by year, demonstrating that companies see this type of philanthropy as not very strategic.

The same study shows that philanthropy and private social investment could be more strategic. More than half of the resources aimed at emergencies are directed toward immediate response and relief of the initial shock caused by the disaster. At the same time, only 20% of donations communities in becoming more resilient, promoting risk reduction and mitigation, and preparedness and readiness for emergencies.

The study “A purpose-action Framework for Corporate Social Responsibility in Times of Shock”, developed by Francisco Javier Forcadell and Elisa Aracil, corroborates these data. It analyzed the performance of 218 companies in Spain during the first weeks of Covid-19 in the country and classified them into 4 categories (symbolic, selective, reactive, and ive), based on the company’s performance in the two main dimensions considered critical to the effectiveness of corporate interventions in emergencies: the scope of the intervention and response time.

Companies classified as symbolic or reactive have a very slow response time but differ in the scope of their actions, with the symbolic being quite restricted and the reactive being quite broad, with a greater sense of social responsibility. The selective and ive classifications categorize companies with a quick response time to emergencies. The selective is restricted in of the scope of intervention, generally preferring to act only when there is an immediate need for , while the ive looks broadly at the scope of intervention, allowing for greater flexibility and fostering proactivity and innovation. According to the research, 42% of companies had a “selective” performance, meaning they acted quickly but with a significantly reduced scope and less strategic approach, limiting the potential impact of actions on the beneficiary public.

The City of Petrópolis in February 2022 after landslides | Photo: Clauber Cleber Caetano / PR

Companies must broaden their view of emergencies, rethinking their private social investment strategy to society. There is room for greater impact in the medium and long term, not only to assist communities in times of tragedy but also to seek their resilience and preparedness to face these tragedies, as well as their recovery and reconstruction. To do so, companies need to ensure clear structures, policies, and governance that operate quickly in emergency cases, ensuring that actions are effective and response times are shorter.

It is a fact that we must act to prevent the disastrous consequences of floods, collapses, or fires. But it is also a fact that they will come, and will have disastrous consequences in the lives of thousands of people. Are you prepared to do your part?