Walking the Talk on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): The Case of Community Foundations in CanadaCommunity foundations have been put forward as uniquely positioned to champion the 2030 Agenda. In this research, Martha Rey-Garcia in co-authorship with Rosane Dal Magro we explore SDG adoption by Canadian community foundations as a process ingrained in grassroots innovations, and scaled bottom-up through collective action by Community Foundations of Canada around data measurement and intra- and cross-sector partnerships.
The United Nations 2030 Agenda creates an opportunity for philanthropic foundations to become more collaborative and transformative in their work toward global goals. Thus, since 2016, the extent to which foundations adopt the Sustainable Development Goals framework in their functioning has become a topic of interest. Although survey- and case-based research shows increased rates of self-reported adoption and several tools are available to help foundations to act toward the goals, there is a lack of systematic evidence about the purposes of and processes for adopting the goals among foundations.
This void is particularly relevant for community foundations, as they have been proposed as natural champions for the 2030 Agenda. This article provides global and national context to the process of adoption of the goals by Canadian community foundations through a multiple case study, tracing it back to its origins and disentangling its antecedents, enablers, and effects during the early implementation phase. Special attention is paid to the roles played by collective action by Community Foundations of Canada, by grassroots actors, and by innovative practices in that process of adoption.
This article was written in the context of the PhiLab-funded research project « Case studies on private foundations contributing to sustainable development goals (SDGs) in Canada in innovative ways »
Recommended 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). https://doi.org/10.9707/1944-5660.1589
