TCFN – Transatlantic Community Foundation Network

  The TCFN plenary, as it was formerly known, will shift slightly to include a broader conversation about community philanthropy around the world.  The event, aptly entitled the Global Community Philanthropy Initiative, will take place in May 2011 in conjuction with the national conference of Community Foundations of Canada, the current TCFN host.   We encourage you to review the article available online here,  which comes to us from Barry Knight, who has been working with TCFN, GFCF, and WINGS-CF to gather collective thinking and input needed to direct this work.

 Global Community Philanthropy Initiative
A group of about 15 community foundation leaders from around the world will plan the GCPI event in May 2011, and it will begin by meeting in September to exchange ideas about the future of community philanthropy globally. Practitioners from the Global Fund for Community Foundations (GFCF), the Transatlantic Community Foundation Network (TCFN) and WINGS-CF will consider how the work of community foundations can best be supported globally, especially how the core work of community foundations and their supporting networks in areas such as convening, peer learning, development of tools and resources, and granting can be joined up through existing global programs such as those represented by participants and perhaps others too. They will also provide some advice to Community Foundations of Canada on shaping an agenda for the CFC 2011 Conference.

CFC 2011 Conference – A World of Opportunity (May 12 – 14, 2011, Vancouver)
Leaders and practitioners from around the world are invited to submit session ideas for the gathering, which will be held May 12-14, 2011 in Vancouver, British Columbia. The deadline for proposals is Friday, September 17. In mid-October CFC will respond to all ideas submitted, planning around 30 sessions, based on the proposals received. Details of the conference themes, a proposal form, and other information can all be found at

 http://www.cfc-conference.ca/conference_2011/resources/proposals.cfm

On a related note, the 2009 CFC Annual Report has been published, and can be downloaded here.   

Between 500 and 600 people, representing 86 countries, are expected to attend CIVICUS’ ninth global gathering, “World Assembly: Acting Together for a Just World,” which will be held Friday through Monday (Aug. 20-23) in Montreal, Canada. It will focus on topics related to economic and environmental justice. 

Read a news article posted to Mott.org highlighting this international event that is co-hosted by the Institut du Nouveau Monde in Montreal and CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, based in Johannesburg, South Africa.   

Watch a short video interview of CIVICUS’s general secretary, Ingrid Srinath, who recently visited Mott’s home office in Flint, Michigan.  Srinath discusses CIVICUS’ role as an international networker of individuals and organizations – all working at the local, national, regional and international levels to strengthen citizen action and civil society around the globe, especially in areas where participatory democracy and citizens’ freedoms are threatened.  

TCFNers Monica Patten (President and CEO, Community Foundations of Canada) and Allyson Reaves (Program Manager, TCFN) along with Marissa Camacho (Executive Director, Worldwide Initiatives for Grantmaker Support) will share a presentation on Community Philanthropy as a Development Tool on Sunday, August 22, 2010.