Nick Deychakiwsky, senior program officer at the Mott Foundation

Nick Deychakiwsky is a senior program officer working in the Enhancing Community Philanthropy program area of the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation’s Civil Society Program.  In late 1990, Deychakiwsky moved to Ukraine, where he worked in various roles supporting democratic and economic reform before joining the Mott Foundation in 2000. Working in the Foundation’s former Prague office, he was responsible for grantmaking in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Moldova until late 2006.

Deychakiwsky subsequently managed U.S. and global nonprofit/philanthropic sector infrastructure and community philanthropy grantmaking. Recently, his work has increasingly focused on Ukraine and Latin America and the role of community foundations in advancing the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

Agustín Landa: Nick, why did you decide to attend the Latimpacto conference? *

Nick Deychakiwsky: This was my first experience at Latimpacto and, in fact, any venture philanthropy network conference. I came to Latimpacto with the specific idea that I would share why the Mott Foundation supports community foundations to impact and other social investors. My second objective was driven by curiosity. I wanted to understand how Latimpacto fits into the broader ecosystem of philanthropy and social investment support.

What are your highlights from the session that you moderated? *

In the session, we had diverse participants, including representatives from two Mexican community foundations, a Brazilian thematic fund focused on Black women entrepreneurs, and an academic institution from Chile (CEFIS). What stood out to me was the collective interest in understanding how community-level or territorial philanthropic institutions operate. Community foundations are unique because they are deeply rooted in their local contexts, allowing them to address specific local needs effectively.

A key topic assigned to us by Latimpacto was the role of trust in the multi-stakeholder work at the local level. Trust is fundamental to the functioning of community foundations because they must build relationships among various actors—government, civil society, business, and community members—to drive sustainable change. The concept of ‘trust-based philanthropy’ was also explored, which is closely aligned with the practices of community foundations. This approach emphasises believing in grantees and supporting them with minimal bureaucratic hurdles, trusting them to know what is best for their communities.

One of the most significant challenges in Latin America and globally is the shrinking civic space, in large part caused by increasing authoritarianism, greater inequality, and a decline in trust in institutions.

Before that session, there was also a discussion about catalytic funding. I remember you saying that catalytic funding, as it was defined in that session, looked a lot like trust-based philanthropy. I would say that the Mott Foundation has been practicing this for a long time by trusting in its grantees.

We aspire to that. We trust our grantees but also try to follow through with helping our grantees develop trust within their community.  What was interesting during the session was the ‘healthy tension’ between developing relationships among stakeholders to move things forward (a more human-centered, empathetic approach) versus another that emphasises measurable outcomes, key performance indicators (KPIs), and financial returns (a more metrics-driven, almost ‘banker-like’ approach). At Latimpacto, I saw these two perspectives come together, creating a space where they could engage in meaningful dialogue.

This tension is healthy because it encourages philanthropic actors to find a balance between fostering genuine, trust-based relationships and ensuring accountability and impact measurement. For example, some attendees stressed the importance of building deep relationships and understanding cultural shifts, while others focused on their investments’ quantifiable outputs. Both approaches are necessary: relationships enable collaboration and long-term sustainability, while measurable results ensure effectiveness and impact.

I also remember Erika Laveaga from the Community Foundation of Monterrey saying that you must listen, learn the language, be patient, and understand the different rhythms of the stakeholders (from the social sector vs. entrepreneurs). If we, as social actors, work in the community, we must be more resilient to all these differences. Community foundations must act as bridges by helping people to work together.

It is correct. To build trust, you must understand their environment and where they come from. I will also add Alina’s presentation from the women’s thematic fund in Brazil, where she said she needs to understand the role they themselves play in the ecosystem – that is, be self-aware as well as understand the others.

What are Latin America’s most significant philanthropy and impact investment challenges? How does philanthropy deal with the continuum of capital?

One of the most significant challenges in Latin America and globally is the shrinking civic space, in large part caused by increasing authoritarianism, greater inequality, and a decline in trust in institutions. This environment poses a considerable challenge for philanthropy and social investment. Social actors, including philanthropic organisations, must work together more cohesively to address these issues. This means creating alliances, forming coalitions, and fostering collaborations that transcend traditional boundaries.

Another challenge is the belief that social impact investments can always yield high financial returns. While some impact investments provide financial returns, others, particularly those focused on social justice, human rights, or advocacy, require subsidy and may not be profitable in the traditional sense. But they do “pay off” in the long run!

Social investors can have a lot of impact and provide the needed capital to help resolve social issues. Philanthropists sometimes do not provide many financial resources. Still, if impact investors and traditional philanthropists have a united front against forces that want to limit and control any positive social change, there will be a better chance of resolving issues that obstruct progress.

Latimpacto provides a valuable platform for discussing these nuances and finding a compromise that balances social good and financial viability.

I was quite impressed with Latimpacto, which was created four years ago and invited around 600 people to the conference in Mexico. Last year, 500 people were in Brazil, and 300 in Colombia the year before that. We have interesting panelists looking into impact investment. What is the role of the Mott Foundation, which is not focused on impact investing but is interested in a more traditional philanthropy approach? How does its interest in community foundations add to this movement?

Particularly in Latin America, most philanthropy and social investments come from corporations — much more so than in the United States. The ones that are involved are usually still very close in their mentality of how business works, and are used to think in terms of growth, money, profitability, market share, stock price, etc. Sometimes, there is the impatience in of business because frequently there is more of a short-term orientation and an aspiration to quickly achieve things. The traditional philanthropy approach tends to be more patient with social change and transformation, which requires a lot of understanding that you cannot expect things to unfold quickly. Maybe we can help the other approach understand that there is a need to be patient because social change takes time.

Community foundations are local and close to their people. They build trust and bring together people from all kinds of backgrounds (rich, poor, black, white, Indigenous, non-Indigenous, etc.). This sends a good message to investors that there are these local vehicles that can help them achieve their various interests because community foundations know local needs very well.

Do you think community foundations are articulators and enhancers of what is going on locally?

Absolutely. They can provide the knowledge of the community and help with guidance of people or companies from other areas interested in investing in the community.  They also have the advantage of having a holistic view of their place and can add perspectives on issues in the community that outsiders don’t see or understand.

The broader idea of fostering an enabling environment for philanthropy is to promote a just, equitable, and sustainable society (the Mott Foundation’s mission) by supporting local actors that can defend and advance the well-being of communities and society.

Mott Foundation has an exciting program for community foundations in Latin America. Can you explain more about this program? 

The Mott Foundation has long supported community foundations – starting with the United States, for over half a century. In Latin America and the Caribbean, we supported the Puerto Rico Community Foundation over 30 years ago, and then have worked for over 20 years in Mexico, but it wasn’t until about 2017 that we started to expand our efforts further into Latin America by investigating the feasibility of other countries based on their economy, civil society, and various other concerns. We are now also present in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru, and Argentina.

The foundation’s approach is characterised by striving for flexibility and as low a level of bureaucracy as possible, allowing grantees to use resources according to their local context and needs. This ‘trust-based philanthropy’ model enables grantees to focus on achieving impact rather than being bogged down by administrative requirements.

In addition to supporting community foundations, the Mott Foundation is also involved in environmental grantmaking, particularly in the Amazon region, where it supports initiatives that promote sustainable development and protect communities affected by development finance projects in South America.

The foundation also supports efforts to protect the ecosystem of civic space and strengthen civil society in Latin America, especially in Mexico, through the Manifiesta platform, which is hosted by CEMEFI.

Overall, the broader idea of fostering an enabling environment for philanthropy is to promote a just, equitable, and sustainable society (the Mott Foundation’s mission) by supporting local actors that can defend and advance the well-being of communities and society.

You have been attending other conferences in Latin America, such as the Central America Donors Forum. What are the challenges these countries are facing in philanthropy? Do you believe challenges can be solved by investing thanks to Latimpacto? 

I am certainly (not an expert in Latin America), but I perceive more instability in society in general; this leads to greater distrust.  To overcome that requires leadership. This leadership does not necessarily come from the political sphere; we need new leadership period. We need a shift in how the economic system works; corporate capitalism is not working well (but neither does state socialism) because there is a lot of power concentrated, there is growing wealth inequality, and oligarchies are on the rise. We need to explore new models, as Otto Scharmer said during the Iberoamerica Civil Society encounter in Mexico City last April.

From what I’ve seen, people in Latin America are quite willing to try something new and different because they aren’t really happy with the old approaches.

I have observed an increase in collaboration among philanthropic actors in Latin America. In the past, there appeared to be a tendency for these actors to operate in silos, each pursuing their own agenda. However, spaces like Latimpacto foster collaboration by creating a platform for different actors to get to know each other, share ideas, and work together. There is a growing recognition that complex social issues cannot be solved in isolation, and collaboration is essential for achieving sustainable impact. I found this type of dialogue between actors and collaboration very inspiring. 

How do you feel about this Latimpacto conference?

Many philanthropic conferences offer a lot of information to absorb. There are many things to explore, and the dialogue must continue to strengthen relations and connections. 

This brings me to a question: Do Latin America and the Caribbean need an event of just a single philanthropic space, as Europe has with Philea? There is logic to that in Europe because of the European Union, but here, you don’t have such a multinational political structure for Latin America.

The Mott Foundation has created, with other players in Latin America and North America, an initiative called Connecting Communities in the Americas (CCA).  What is that all about?

That is among community foundations in the Americas: Canada, the USA, Latin America, and the Caribbean. I’m not sure about that being an analog to something like, for example, the European Community Foundation Initiative (ECFI). Even though Canada and the United States have similarities in language and traditions, it has another type of space before you get to the Mexican border. Colonialism experiences were different. The question is, is it worth creating a shared space for the Americas for all of philanthropy? It’s not for me to answer, but it feels logical to me. If so, is that something we need to have regarding only philanthropy instead of Latimpacto, which gets into impact investment, too? I don’t know, but I do know that right now, such a space does not exist.

Last April, in conjunction with the Manuel Arango Foundation and CEMEFI, we held an event that brought together philanthropists from different parts of the region. Wings currently has a group of Latin American philanthropists and support organisations, as well as some foundations that have also joined, but is that sufficient?

*The Latimpacto conference provides a crucial space for different actors in philanthropy and impact investing in Latin America to engage in dialogue and find ways to collaborate. The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, with its focus on trust-building, long-term support, and flexible approaches to philanthropy, is well-positioned to contribute significantly to this evolving conversation. The foundation’s experience in Latin America highlights the importance of local knowledge, trust, and collaboration in driving meaningful social change.

Agustín Landa is the founder of Landa Zambrano Asociados and Alliance magazine’s Regional Representative in Latin America.