Dissecting Philantropic Power

The Dream of Collaboration for Equitable Development: Dissecting Philanthropic Power Inferiority Phenomenon After Aid The pattern of aid from people in developed countries to developing countries has become relevant in accelerating efforts to achieve the target for all countries to become developed. This good model, nevertheless, is paradoxical because it has influenced and shaped the dependency of recipients on the wealthy nations (Giridharadas, Anand 2018). This tendency harms the spirit of development which should focus on the ability of a community or country to be able to meet the needs of its people, resonating with the principle of ownership in aiding the effectiveness (“Paris Declaration and Accra Agenda for Action - OECD” 2005). In addition, this model has led to power imbalances among nations and resulted in a propensity to dominate due to the engineered dependency pattern. This top-down model also lacks community involvement in the decision-making process and solutions, which is crucial for addressing the root causes of societal issues. All these make countries receiving aid slow to develop and quite a few are moving away from prosperity, possibly due to the interests that come in at the same time as the funds provided. This should make the world question the current concept of aid, which leads to ineffectiveness in making substantial changes.

Reimagining Philanthropy as a Fundamental Shift Philanthropy plays a significant role in developing disadvantaged countries since it could challenge the old model, fulfilling the gap in people’s specific needs (“Philanthropy as an Emerging Contributor to Development Cooperation | United Nations Development Programme” 2014). Philanthropists can work directly with local people or organizations, able to work agile, and free from bureaucratic matters.

The philanthropic model even doesn’t need to be a formal institution but could be part of the private sector if it finances social innovation or changes. Philanthropy only needs to activate local movements with their support.

In terms of pursuing equitable development, philanthropy organizations must transform their mindset and work model into systemic change in communities, rather than just put innovation into tackling popular issues. Empowerment of people is seen as the central focus, so the approach used is bottomup, donor adjust their standards and ideals with the socio-economic cases they face. Philanthropic activities, responsibly and ethically, also need to be transparent and accountable to ensure that the initiatives are effective, responsible, and genuinely contributing to social change. Considering the longterm impact, organizations can’t only focus on symptom alleviation but need to be completed with root cause analysis and measured outcomes.

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The Dream of Collaboration for Equitable Development: Dissecting Philanthropic Power

Redistribute Power Through Community-Focused Initiatives The inclusive decision-making process is one of the important fundamental setups to create a more equitable structure within society. Diverse voices and perspectives should be represented in every community-centered program. This simple change democratizes the initiative, leading to a distribution power expected to not only accommodate the interests of certain groups, especially the capital which often has the greatest power in people’s lives. By emphasizing the engagement of the community, the role of rich people who become central figures in philanthropic organizations will automatically be redefined as a driving force, not as an outlet for personal ego or political interests (“Book Review: Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World by Anand Giridharadas” 2019). Hopefully, this makes the movement collective, so that people would feel that philanthropists’ programs are also their programs, allowing the community to participate in maintaining and sustaining the program.

Learn to Collaborate from Local Wisdom Building civilization is a collaboration process between many parties that requires community participation, in this case including the private sector and mass organizations. In Indonesia, there is the cultural value of gotong royong which is a collection of noble values of wisdom from the ancestors that continuously raise people's awareness to contribute to creating social welfare. Gotong royong or collaboration has become a common sense based on the spirit of unity, it has a big impact in forming a culture of participation in social assistance and charity among the people (Arpannudin et al. 2021b).

Economically, the concept promotes a belief that we can grow the smalls without shrinking the larges, it says “membesarkan yang kecil tanpa mengecilkan yang besar.” Regarding the discussion of philanthropy, gotong royong has become crucial in building public seriousness in moral-related activities, such as donation and community service, including for philanthropists in the form of foundation, donation, or even CSR (Muhammad and Al Kautsar 2023).

The success story of this gotong royong model is reflected in the pandemic era of COVID-19 in which people's contribution, including private corporations, was focused on the paradigm of social welfare creation. The pandemic has tested the social sense of people, eroded the sense of individualism and selfishness, obeying the rules, and prioritizing the public interest (Arpannudin et al. 2021a). Dealing with the impact of COVID-19 and the enthusiasm to rise and face the COVID-19 outbreak has led to various public initiatives. Philanthropists directly work with local people and organizations, supporting the effort of handling virus spread, protecting people from hunger, and administering vaccinations.

The movement was not only pioneered by charitable foundations but also the participation of companies of various scales, from small to conglomerates, to be able to support human saving

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The Dream of Collaboration for Equitable Development: Dissecting Philanthropic Power

programs in an era of crisis. The key is the direct approach from the source of funds who wants to help and the problem in society, it strengthens the argument before about community involvement.

How Philanthropists Can Do More The model of gotong royong has been formulated in modern research by the rise of Penta Helix collaboration in innovation or development programs. In this collaboration concept, philanthropists are closely related to the business sector which has a role in accelerating progress through the transfer of technology and knowledge. Philanthropists’ position must accommodate the targeted people as the main concentration of development, so their responsibility is to bridge the needs and resources at an agreed point. The success of development programs or social innovation is based on interprofessional cooperation at a local level, where philanthropists can work together with social workers, researchers, and even the citizens as an equal partner (Sjögren Forss, Kottorp, and Rämgård 2021). Awareness of added value generation and promoting public interest above individuals must be the starting point of the movement of philanthropists. Only in this way can philanthropic significance be greater in advancing civilization.

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The Dream of Collaboration for Equitable Development: Dissecting Philanthropic Power

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Giridharadas, Anand. 2018. Winners Take All The Elite Charade of Changing the World. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Muhammad, Danang, and Izzy Al Kautsar. 2023. “Social Assistance by Corporations in Pandemic Era: Between Obligations or Culture?” International Journal of Social Science and Business 7 (June): 388– 96. https://doi.org/10.23887/ijssb.v7i2.46105.

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