When Peggy Dulany accompanied a group of Global Philanthropists Circle members from around the world on a learning visit to Brazil in 2004, it was a particularly meaningful homecoming for the founder of Synergos, who had lived and worked in a favela, or squatter settlement, in Rio de Janeiro as a young woman.
Dulany's early experience in Brazil marked the beginning of a long and close relationship between that country and Synergos. "Life in the favela taught me that the people affected by poverty are those with the greatest determination to escape it," Dulany said. "What was missing was access to a network of others with the skills and resources to help poor people make a better life for themselves."
These lessons from Brazil proved formative when Dulany went on to work for the New York City Partnership, an organization that promotes economic development and social change through public-private collaboration. "I saw the possibility of bringing people together from different sectors and levels of society and realized that this could happen in Brazil and other parts of the world, not just New York," she said. "Synergos grew out of that set of experiences."
Today, a variety of philanthropic partnerships seeded by Synergos in Brazil have begun to take root, creating a fertile climate for positive social change. "Previously, the word 'partnership' wasn't known in Brazil -- each sector had its own culture, its own role and its own priorities," said Wanda Engel Aduan, a leading advocate for children and youth in Brazil, and one of several Synergos board members who took part in the 2004 learning visit.
"Synergos introduced this country to the notion of joining forces, a concept that is more and more important for us to deal with our most serious problems -- poverty and inequality," said Engel Aduan, former Secretary of State for Social Assistance in Brazil and now with the Regional Dialogue Division at the Inter-American Development Bank.
Learning from the experience of Brazil
Partnership and collaboration were consistent themes in the Global Philanthropists Circle's country visit to Brazil in 2004. Such visits are among the many opportunities for learning, sharing and collaboration offered to members of the Circle, a network of leading donors who run or support global initiatives that address issues of poverty and inequity. "Through these and other types of learning opportunities, Synergos provides a space for GPC members to connect, reflect, exchange ideas and help each other become more effective agents of change in their own parts of the world" said Jim Brasher, who served as the Circle's first director.
From the teeming favelas of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo to the lush but fragile ecosystem of the Amazon rainforest, the ten-day country visit gave participants a chance to observe the social and economic divides challenging Brazil and the diverse -- and often groundbreaking -ways in which GPC members and other Synergos partners are addressing these barriers by fostering the practice and culture of philanthropy.
Despite the political and economic advances of the past two decades, Brazil remains one of the most socio-economically divided societies in the world. Nearly a third of its 184 million citizens live in poverty, many in the overcrowded and neglected favelas of Brazil's two mega-cities, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The situation is particularly precarious for poor children and youth in these communities, who often find themselves marginalized, exploited and endangered by life on the streets.
In Brazil and other developing countries around the world, Synergos works in a variety of creative ways to bridge such social and economic divides by bringing leading philanthropic families together to deepen the impact of their social investments; building and strengthening bridging organizations such as community foundations; and brokering partnerships among philanthropists, government, business and citizens to increase the flow of resources and expertise to impoverished communities.
"Synergos tries to identify and support relationships that can be catalysts for wider change," said William Bohnett, a Synergos board member and partner in the international law firm of Fulbright & Jaworski. Bohnett took part in the 2004 trip where he and the other participants had a chance to see the Global Philanthropists Circle and other Synergos lines of work coming together in visits to strategic philanthropic initiatives that are operating in some of Brazil's most challenging settings.
A unique laboratory for change in the Amazon rainforest
When it comes to promoting a culture of local philanthropy, the dynamic members of Synergos' Global Philanthropists Circle in Brazil are leading by example in their own strategic social investment projects and collaborations, all focused primarily on children and youth.
The group learned about one key member's effort when it traveled deep into the Amazon rainforest, where Circle member Sergio Amoroso's Jari project is providing a new model of engagement in one of the richest -- and most endangered -- bioregions on earth.
CEO of Orsa Group, a leading producer in Brazil of corrugated boxes and packaging papers, Amoroso created the Orsa Foundation in 1994, at an early stage of the corporate social responsibility movement in Brazil. Today, the Foundation operates more than 60 programs nationwide that provide an integrated array of training and development for children and youth at risk. Orsa Group invests at least one percent of its gross annual revenues in the foundation, yielding nearly $5 million in 2004, resulting in assistance to 1.4 million people around Brazil.
Amoroso's decision to acquire a production facility, Jari Cellulose, in the Amazon rainforest in 2000 represented a major new undertaking, for the São Paulo-based Orsa Group and the Foundation. Orsa's new business community consists of 100,000 residents with a vast array of social needs, and stewardship of 1.6 million hectares of native rainforest, the largest privately held reserve of native forest in the world.
Undaunted, Amoroso views the Jari project as a unique laboratory for social change in a region still struggling with a past legacy of unsustainable business practices, environmental degradation and social neglect.
Guided by a recognition that his business is integrally linked to the continuing health of the people and the environment of the Amazon rainforest, Amoroso is pursuing a multi-prong strategy that integrates sustainable harvesting and production techniques; income-generation projects for local residents in harmony with the native forest; and comprehensive training and development services for local children and families. For Amoroso, his company's role is to partner with the community in ways that extend its benefits to those closest to its operations, narrowing some of the social and economic divides that had been created previously.
During their stay in Jari, trip participants toured Orsa's state-of-the-art production facilities, hiked the rainforest together and met with children and families enrolled in many of Orsa Foundation's community projects. At the end of the four-day visit, participants met with Sergio Amoroso and other leaders of Orsa Group to share lessons learned and explore ways to connect the knowledge gained to their own philanthropic projects.
"It's a picture worth a thousand words, seeing how good these programs are on the ground," said Synergos board member William Bohnett. "It's very beneficial for both the board and the GPC to see each other's work and role in the field."
For Marcos de Moraes, a successful technology entrepreneur based in São Paulo who is both a GPC member and Synergos board member, such opportunities for cross-fertilization are rare and particularly valuable. He emphasized the benefits of learning from each other's distinct experiences, citing how it helps everyone think about how to increase the effectiveness and impact of their own efforts to address poverty issues. For me, he added, "interacting with the group is extremely important for stimulating new and innovative ideas."
Instituto Rio: a new model for community philanthropy
During the trip, the group also learned about a community-based model of giving when it visited with Instituto Rio, the country's first community foundation, which Synergos helped to launch and nurture. Instituto Rio grew out of a dialogue between Peggy Dulany and local leaders concerned that even though diverse initiatives existed to promote social change in Rio de Janeiro, their impact was limited by a lack of access to financing and technical assistance.
Intrigued by the emerging community foundation movement -- which Synergos also pioneered in Ecuador and Mozambique -- the group explored and ultimately adopted the model with the aim of leveraging local resources and skills in a more systematic way to meet the needs of Rio's most vulnerable residents. Thanks to early support from Synergos, the Ford Foundation, and the Avina Foundation, Instituto Rio also has access to a growing international network of connections and support for community foundations.
Instituto Rio fulfills its mission both through grantmaking to local organizations and by providing skills and expertise to help them build capacity. It concentrates its work in the Zona Oeste, or West Zone of the city, where human development ratings are among the lowest in Brazil despite a growing commercial and industrial sector. For many living in the long-neglected neighborhoods of the West Zone, the organizations supported by Instituto Rio often make the difference between social exclusion and productive engagement.
In the community of Campo Grande, for example, which began as an illegal settlement of displaced persons, a volunteer organization called NEAC (Núcleo Especial de Atenção à Criança) helped residents win rights to their land and today provides day care, after-school activities and training for adolescents that complement the offerings of the formal education system.
Another West Zone organization, Casa de Santa Ana, has transformed a care facility for low-income elderly into a haven for seniors and a hub for community involvement. Through activities such as dances, workouts and cultural projects, older members of the community are given meaning and purpose, rather than being warehoused in asylums.
Located in Cidade de Deus, or City of God -- a neighborhood known more for the cycle of poverty, despair and crime depicted in the 2002 film of the same name -- Casa de Santa Ana creates a climate of mutual respect and interaction between old and young.
Building a tradition of private giving in Brazil
Instituto Rio has managed to overcome an array of challenges to build support for its community-based approach to problem solving. These include difficulties in explaining a community foundation concept unfamiliar to many in Brazil; a tax system that provides few incentives to stimulate private philanthropy; and the task of building an endowment fund in a country that lacks a tradition of private giving.
"Historically, there has not been a strong concept of private philanthropy in Brazil," said Geraldo Jordão Pereira, a major Brazilian publisher who serves on Instituto Rio's board of directors. "Social problems are seen as the government's problems and no one feels responsible, but this is starting to change, particularly in the business sector."
Leading this change are donors such as Jordão, who recently gave a major gift to Instituto Rio to create an endowment fund to provide sustainable, long-term support for local organizations. Jordão's action is "unusual in Brazil, both for the size of the gift and the fact that it's an individual donation to a small, young organization's endowment fund," said Candace Lessa, director of programs for Synergos in Brazil and president of Instituto Rio's board. "It will leave a lasting legacy for Instituto Rio and the people of the West Zone."
A critical mass for moving forward in Brazil
The groundwork laid by Synergos and its partners in Brazil has opened important new channels of private philanthropy and created momentum for moving the social agenda forward. As they seek out windows of opportunity to promote philanthropy and collaboration in Brazil, the circle of impact continues to widen. "Synergos is starting to harvest the fruits of years of building bridges and partnerships in Brazil and other parts of the world," said GPC member and Synergos board member Marcos de Moraes.
Following the successful GPC trip in 2004, for example, various ideas for collaboration among a wider group of Circle members interested in Brazil have emerged. Increasingly, private donors in the country are stepping forward with innovative solutions to persistent societal challenges, such as a landmark $10 million fund created by de Moraes to keep kids in São Paulo off the streets and productively engaged.
The list of emerging grantmaking foundations in Brazil continues to grow, supported by Synergos. Inspired by the example of Instituto Rio, efforts are also being made to expand the community foundation model to other parts of Brazil.
"With all of our experience, we're at a breakthrough point in this country," said Candace Lessa, director of Synergos' programs in Brazil. "We've become increasingly involved with our partners and are gaining their trust. We now have a critical mass for moving forward together, accelerating this movement and giving it room to grow."
To Learn More About Synergos in Brazil
Written 2006