COMMUNITY FOUNDATION STORIES FROM EAST AFRICA, 2025
After 22 years in the social impact sector, Nguzo Africa Community Foundation’s founder Elizaphan Ogechi faced a breaking point. The traditional funding model wasn’t working. Lengthy proposals to distant donors. Regret letters. Funding restrictions that constrained mission. Power imbalances that created self-doubt. The choice became clear: embrace community philanthropy or burn out completely.
Five years later, Nguzo has raised over $35,000 locally from businesses, corporates, and schools. The money came from neighbors who care about restoring the Mau-Mara ecosystem. No lengthy applications to distant foundations waiting for approval.
The Mau Mara Run raises resources while delivering mission impact simultaneously. People contribute as they plant trees. Three years in: 200,000 trees growing, thriving mini forests in schools across Narok County, and a foundation that acts without waiting for donor permission.
Nguzo launched social enterprises (Nguzo Fresh and Nguzo Trees) as mission-aligned startups. They invested in AI for service delivery, reporting, program management, and communications. Technology became a mission enabler, not a luxury. They built financial resilience through four interconnected strategies: fundraising, marketing communications, digital transformation, and overall community-driven development. The goal now: 1,000 super supporters contributing regularly. Unrestricted funds from people who believe in the mission.
What accelerated this transformation? Peer learning through Global Fund for Community Foundations support. Nguzo visited and learned from peer community foundations in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ghana, Mozambique, and Malawi. Seeing how others built local resource mobilization, embraced digital maturity, and achieved financial independence showed what was possible.
The lesson Nguzo carries is simple. Small community foundations face a crossroads. Increased community pressure. Reduced traditional funding. Resistance to supporting local organizations. The path forward requires continuous learning from peers, letting go of the past (vulnerabilities are guiding pillars, not anchors; they frame the future, don’t let the past define it), embracing digital maturity (digitally mature nonprofits are 4x more likely to achieve mission goals), scaling with agility, being responsive, and stopping asking permission from distant donors.
