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Philanthropic Community Foundation
Philanthropic Community Foundation
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Our Story

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Our Story

Our Story

The journey of the Philanthropic Community Foundation Ltd (PCF) began with a study conducted in 2019, which revealed the presence of hundreds of local grant-making trusts and foundations within Uganda, some of which had been established as far back as the 1950s.

In 2020, like-minded individuals came together to advance the conversation about indigenous philanthropy in Uganda. These conversations were facilitated by Swift Waste Masters Ltd, which convened a series of meetings that led to the formation of PCF. The primary goal of these meetings was to explore the various elements of foundation-building among philanthropic organizations, including asset development, grant-making, and governance, to enhance their effectiveness.

The emergence of PCF coincided with an increase in pandemics in Uganda, highlighting the need for trusts, foundations, and other civil society organizations to work more closely together for the common good. The formation of PCF provided an opportunity to promote philanthropy more broadly and to strengthen grant-making institutions serving local communities.

Join Philcom Today

PCF offers a platform for grant-makers to serve as a central point of reference for all philanthropic activities. It provides a forum for members to exchange experiences, information, and expertise. One of the key events organized by PCF is the Uganda Charity Week & Festival, which attracts members from across the sector, including core philanthropy organizations comprising foundations and trusts, as well as members of the larger civil society involved in grant-making mechanisms. The platform also engages with corporate organizations running remarkable Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs that significantly contribute to the giving culture in Uganda.

In 2025, the work of the platform is reaching a peak, with an increasing variety of members going beyond the strict confines of foundations and trusts.

Philcom membership is drawn from Family Trusts, Community Foundations, Corporate Foundations, and other types of grant-making and non-grant-making organizations registered as foundations, trusts, and CSOs that operate in Uganda and actively engage in promoting philanthropy.

By joining PCF, members become part of a vibrant and collaborative community dedicated to making a positive impact on society. Our collective efforts ensure that we can create a brighter future for all, fostering a culture of compassion, collaboration, and community empowerment.

What We Do

Strengthen our Members
Trusts and foundations will only build credibility if they can publicly demonstrate honesty and integrity in the ways that they both guard and award resources. In other words, they must have strong governance structures in place, be excellent stewards of any endowment funds and give grants in a fair and open manner. Increasing the capacity of members is a key function of the association, because its power to influence policy depends entirely on the strength and effectiveness of its members.
Promote Local Grant-making practice
The second assumption is that in order to create the credibility that local grant-makers will require if they are to attract local support in the form of donations, there are certain good practices that need to be adopted which ensure transparency and accountability and that will convince potential supporters that these institutions know how to look after and spend money wisely.
Develop Credibility to Bring About Change
Effective grant-makers, independently governed, efficiently managed, with access to their own sources of income and brought together in an association, have great potential to make a difference at a policy level, as intermediaries between other civil society partners, government and the corporate sector, and as a focal point for mobilizing resources locally.
Leverage the “Power of Numbers”
At present, trusts and foundations are scattered in East Africa. Many organizations work silos, isolated from other philanthropic institutions which may be trying to achieve the same goals regionally, even globally.