In the following blog reposted from One World Together, the team discuss the exciting news of a grant from Brian Eno and Hannah Eno on behalf of their new foundation Coral.
Hope. Belief. Ambition.
These have always driven us at One World Together. It’s one thing to recognise that we can design a better and community-centred future driven by passionate and committed Global Citizens. It’s another thing entirely to start on the tremendous journey of building a new system of finance that works for communities. One that provides long-term, predictable and completely flexible funding on our foundations of trust, solidarity and equity. This is what it will take to enable community organisations to unleash their full potential.
As co-founders we’ve seen the best and worst of the world we live in when it comes to global development:
The incredible efforts that community organisations invest in supporting and sustaining their communities’ well-being. And the ways in which these are constrained, if not crippled, by a global funding system that holds onto power, control and resources so tightly that it offers little respect, autonomy or flexibility to those best placed to support thriving communities.
The incredible generosity of the British public when it comes to believing in and supporting global development charities to build a better world. And the hard truth that we too are fuelling these inefficiencies by giving nearly all our donations to the largest, most professionalised charities that play a leading role in perpetuating these inequalities.
We have seen the commitment to ‘changing’ the system among these major players. But we have also seen the difficulties of actually doing this in a deeply interconnected system that itself is going through crisis, where one organisation doesn’t hold the power to make significant change and where organisational protectionism may take precedence over doing the right thing.
We recognised that positive progress towards a community-centred future had to start elsewhere. We believed it needed to start with us: each and every one of us. What would it look like if instead of charity we believed in solidarity? And if we all came together at scale to build a new system of finance for communities, united in our belief in a community-centred future? We believed that it would look beautiful, bright, and filled with potential, optimism and humanity.
Recently we received an uplifting and joyful letter from Brian Eno and his daughter, Hannah Eno, on behalf of their new foundation, Coral. Like us, Brian chooses hope over despair. Recognises that the troubles and crises the world is facing can never be ‘fixed’ through existing systems and policymakers. Recognises that we cannot let fear become apathy and believes that we ourselves hold the keys that we need to unlock the pathway to a fairer, more viable future.
With these shared beliefs, faith and ambition, we could not be more delighted that Coral has found us, has seen us and is supporting us through a generous grant that invests in our long-term commitment to building a better future.
Our gratitude has been joined by a strange speechlessness in which ‘thank you’ is not enough to demonstrate the power of this belief in us. This is a recognition of and investment in each of our partners and in every one of our growing community of Global Citizens. It is a hugely powerful testimony that what we are doing counts and will continue to fuel our belief and faith on those days when the journey and our destination can feel out of reach. Thank you, Brian, Hannah and the team at Coral.
At One World Together you’re not just supporting a good cause. You’re also believing in a better future and joining a growing global community committed to building that. Together.