Session 2.2
Beyond Philanthropy? Reflecting on the Role of Surplus in Community Economies
3rd November (Tuesday)
1.5 hours
Organiser: Alison Guzman
Embedded Files
Abstract
Community economies invite us to rethink how we understand labor, value, exchange, and livelihoods. Yet one question often receives less attention: what role do individuals and institutions with surplus resources play in cultivating community economies? Rather than positioning surplus as something to be donated, we will explore how it might instead be understood as something stewarded, shared, and mobilized through long-term relationships of reciprocity, accompaniment, and collective flourishing.
Drawing on experiences working alongside Indigenous communities, nonprofit organizations, and philanthropic partners, the session will consider questions such as:How might people and institutions with surplus become participants rather than benefactors in community economies? How might community economies help us imagine different ways of circulating surplus?
As one thread within this conversation, we will also reflect on the role of writing as a relational practice. Grant proposals, reports, newsletters, and storytelling often become the meeting place between communities and resource holders. Together, we will consider questions such as:
What stories become fundable?
Who gets to write them?
What is translated—and what becomes invisible—when communities speak to institutions?
How can writing itself become a practice of reciprocity while remaining accountable to the communities from which these stories emerge?
Rather than proposing answers, the session aims to open a dialogue about how surplus, relationships, and representation might be reimagined through the lens of community economies.
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#Liviana2026#CERN#CommunityEconomies
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