Research Roundup: Adopting the Sustainable Development Goals helps community foundations change the conversation
Research Roundup is a regular feature contributed by Dr Alexandra Williamson of the Australian Centre for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies (ACPNS) at QUT on the latest research into community philanthropy from around the world.
What are we reading this month?
Walking the Talk on Sustainable Development Goals: The Case of Community Foundations in Canada
Who wrote it?
Marta Rey-Garcia and Rosane Dal Magro.
What’s their day job?
Associate Professor Marta Rey-Garcia is part of the Faculty of Economics and Business at the University of A Coruña, Spain.
Rosane Dal Magro is a PhD student at the University of Montreal Business School in Quebec and part of PhiLab, the Canadian Philanthropy Partnership Research Network.
Who published it?
The Foundation Review, a journal published by the Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy in Grand Rapids, Michigan, U.S.
Where’s the research based?
The research looks at the application of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by Canadian community foundations.
What’s it about?
The authors explore the process of adoption of the SDGs by Canadian community foundations through a multiple case study. They examine the role of collective action – by Community Foundations of Canada and grassroots actors – and the innovative practices in that process of adoption. A key antecedent of adoption of the SDGs is found to be social innovation that originates in grassroots work and is then diffused horizontally by Community Foundations of Canada to member foundations. The article also includes an interesting description of Vital Signs.
Why should I read it?
The article considers both why and how community foundations integrate the SDGs into their strategies and operations. The analysis of antecedents, enablers and effects of SDG adoption draws on three community foundations but also looks at the national context in which they work (see Table 3 on p.42).
Sounds interesting. Have you got a quote?
I love this inspiring quote from the concluding paragraph of the article:
“…the true potential of SDG adoption for community foundations may lie in…reframing their model from that of typically small, local actors confined by the urgencies and constraints of place and time, to that of conveners and partners capable of radically contributing to large-scale, long-range sustainability challenges, today and into the future”.
Okay, so where’s the link?
You can download a copy of the full paper here:
https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/tfr/vol13/iss4/7/
Full citation:
Rey-Garcia, M., & Dal Magro, R. (2021). Walking the Talk on Sustainable Development Goals: The Case of Community Foundations in Canada. The Foundation Review, 13(4), 7. https://doi.org/10.9707/1944-5660.1589