Grassroots giving on home turf

How did I get here? Too frequently, our lives are not really choices, but the result of circumstances. In my case, it was serendipity – a fortunate set of circumstances that brought me to a situation where I can now devote my working life to philanthropy. Twelve years ago, the very idea of giving would have seemed alien, as I had neither time nor money. My sole pre-occupation was survival of my business. I hope also that the journey is only partly completed. I don’t try to guess where I will be in twelve years’ time.

After criss-crossing the world, climbing the corporate ladder and starting a software company in Australia which lurched from crisis to crisis, I finally found myself back in the UK, without a job (the company had been acquired and I had sold my shares) and ‘retired’ in my early forties. Initially, my wife and I set up a family charitable foundation with rather vague ideas of ‘giving something back’ but no clear goals. I spent my time doing what many ex-entrepreneurs or financiers do: continue with the only trade they know, trying to turn some money into more money. After a while, I began to feel that every early stage company starts to look the same and I became increasingly sceptical about the point of the exercise which led to thoughts about the meaning of money.

I have always suspected that money doesn’t really exist until you spend it, until you use it to do something. Until then, it is just ink on a bank statement. Beyond your needs, the sense of security it provides and the material things you covet, it serves little purpose. Better, then, to use it to some effect.

I faced two problems. Firstly, I did not have a passion for a cause, but I did have a concern about the sense of alienation and powerlessness that many people in Britain’s fragmented communities seem to experience, linked to a culture of dependency. This was coupled with a belief that people know the solutions to their own problems, but accessing the solution is often the problem.

Secondly, society’s problems sometimes seem so large and intractable that my giving could only have a tiny effect. If I could only give at a local level though, where I could see the impact, and small amounts of money could have an effect on some lives, maybe my giving could be a small drip in a glass, rather than a tiny drop in an ocean. Seen another way, I may not be able to change the world, but I may be able to change someone’s world.

Many of these thoughts were crystallised during The Philanthropy Workshop, run by the Institute for Philanthropy. This was a commitment to three full weeks, spread over a year and across three continents, but it was a transforming experience because it was shared with 12 other philanthropists, all at different stages in their journey, but all with the same goal; to use their resources to somehow improve the world. Relationships were forged that I believe will be lifelong.

I also stumbled across the hidden jewel that is the community foundation movement. We set up a donor advised fund with our local community foundation (Surrey) and it was a revelation to find that our county has pockets of serious deprivation masked behind the affluence, some of them almost on my doorstep. We came to meet some extraordinary people who are changing lives in these communities and had the opportunity to back them and see the impact. For us, this has been rewarding philanthropy.

Unfortunately, I am not a good ‘grandstander’. I cannot sit on the sidelines and not get involved. I became a trustee of Community Foundation for Surrey, then of Community Foundation Network (CFN), the national organisation that leads the community foundation movement. Last year, the 57 foundations which cover almost every part of Britain managed funds for over 1,400 philanthropists and funded over 20,000 organisations, so I became intrigued by why community foundations are not better known. I offered to help to raise their profile, which, of course, led to the suggestion that I assume the role of Chairman of CFN for a three-year term. We may not achieve it in three years, but eventually I believe that community foundations will be viewed as a natural part of the infrastructure of every community in Britain and, through peer influence, philanthropy will become a natural way of life for anyone with the capacity to give, part of a ‘social contract’.

This has led to an appreciation of two other aspects of philanthropy – employment of skills and leverage. The power of philanthropy is much greater if the donor can bring skills, as well as money, to bear, and it is also more rewarding. If I can employ whatever talents and experience I may have to grow awareness of community philanthropy, then that is much more valuable than using them to grow yet another business.

Hopefully, my experiences can also influence others. If by promoting philanthropy and writing about my journey, I can lead others into considered, strategic giving, then the limited amount that I can give will have leveraged much more giving. In some way my small drip will have become a much larger bucketful, that really can make a difference.

Matthew Bowcock, a self-confessed “reconstructed” serial entrepreneur, founded, built and sold technology and genetics companies in Australia, the US and the UK.

In 2000 he established the Hazelhurst Trust, a family charitable trust and in 2005 became a trustee and vicechairman of the Surrey Community Foundation. He is now chairman of the Community Foundation Network (CFN), which is committed to ‘local giving, lasting value’. www.communityfoundations.org.uk