Giving Compass' Take:

• Clare Woodcraft, Tayyab Ahmed, and Kamal Munir explain how philanthropy's capacity for collaboration, connecting with communities, and creativity can address COVID-19 in ways that the public and private sectors can not. 

• Are you positioned to address COVID-19? What gap could your philanthropy fill? 

• Not sure where to start? Find coronavirus resources for donors that suit your goals. 


Responding effectively to COVID-19 creates a new opportunity for philanthropic capital – risk capital that can forego financial returns – to prove its worth. But how?

The 3C’s

First, philanthropy needs to be collaborative. In today’s global development landscape, no one sector can go it alone. When it comes to pandemics, intergovernmental collaboration was historically the preferred method for responding to pandemics. Yet philanthropic organisations have also historically played an important in the global health landscape. As Youde (2020) points out, ‘private philanthropy not only made the first generation of international health organisations possible, it also set the stage for today’s global health governance system’.

Second, listening to communities would help. Too often, solutions put forth by philanthropists fail to consider grassroots ‘bottom-up’ approaches that incorporate input from the end beneficiary. With the current moves towards extended periods of social distancing in response to COVID-19, concerns about public compliance with preventative measures over the long-term is a challenge that philanthropists could address. By listening to communities and community leaders, charitable solutions are much more likely to respond to real needs and real human behaviour rather than surmise in a vacuum what might work best. The independence of philanthropy means it is well positioned to go where others fear to tread and divert funds for immediate humanitarian efforts to failed states with weak or non-existent health care systems. Conflict zones such as Iraq, Syria, and Yemen would be obvious candidates.

Third, a return to philanthropy’s risk capital roots and its appetite for creativity would be particularly timely. With the spread of a novel disease such as COVID-19, innovative solutions are needed. These could include embracing new innovative financing solutions in the global health sphere. For example, vaccine immunisations sukuk (a Shariah-compliant securitisation), which have raised $750 million over three issuances so far, are a step in the right direction. So are broader recent attempts by the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) and the UNHCR to harness Islamic philanthropy.

Read the full article about phiilanthropy and COVID-19 by Clare Woodcraft, Tayyab Ahmed, and Kamal Munir at Alliance Magazine.