Grassroots engagement and philanthropy

I’ve recently noticed a shift to grassroots engagement and philanthropy here in Australia and globally. Gone are the days of traditional mass-market engagement and giving.

Around the globe, audiences now seek one:one relationships, pressuring organizations to connect differently. We’re seeing this in various countries in their high social media use and transformation of “ghost malls” into community spaces as well as in their donor participation and volunteering trends.

For instance, in Cambodia where AusCam Freedom Project operates, the Australian anti-trafficking nonprofit that I chair, traditional media outlets and retail occupancy have slumped over the past decade as streaming and online purchasing have continued to disrupt historic media and retail models. These sharp declines, which accentuate global mass-market engagement downturns, coincide with Cambodia’s youth dominance in this nation where almost half the population is under 25 years old.

Likewise, in Australia, donors and volunteers are increasingly desiring authentic personalized relationships and valuing community-based (versus organization-based) relationships. For example, Australia’s social-club membership has fallen drastically, as have community-support group membership and civic/political group membership. Organized volunteering and donor numbers have decreased too. These Australian changes echo global mass-market giving declines.

In 2025, I attended two international conferences that touched on these themes.

I presented on my latest social innovation research at the International Association of Society and Business (IABS) in historic Maastricht. Organized by Abel Diaz Gonzalez, the conference theme was ‘Redesigning Business for Social Good’. The fascinating and wide-ranging topical sessions, charming surrounds, Dutch hospitality, and fabulous volunteers were all standouts. I participated in an inspiring interactive workshop on purpose and impact and in a panel on social movements, expertly chaired by David S. A. Guttormsen. The presentations discussed newspaper interview insights on Hungarian illiberalism (Marton Gera), climate change agreements' impact on firm performance (Dipti Gupta), BCorps as transnational movements (David Guttormsen), and innovating for social impact in industry associations (me). Other conference highlights included the intersection of business and human rights (Harry Van Burren), corporate responsibilization (Jasper Hotho), Grameen Bank (Josh Ault), and bottom of pyramid corporate engagement (Karen Valdez).

I also was pleased to participate at the dynamic ChangeNOW 2025 at Paris' beautiful and fitting Le Grand Palais, home of the 1900 Universal Exposition. This fabulous showcase of innovations, where leaders and changemakers connected to shape a sustainable world, featured 1,000 solutions, 40,000 participants, 10,000 firms, 1,200 investors, 500 speakers, and 140 countries. It included an inspiring keynote from former Ireland President Mary Robinson, former France Prime Minister Laurent Fabius, and COP30 CEO Ana Toni. And it presented contemporary topics and experts in women’s water equity, the power of law, cross-border social innovation, inter-generational collaboration, and board engagement across sport, food, fashion, and the environment. Over the multi-day symposium, participants consistently expressed the need—across firms and nonprofits alike—for new ownership structures, strategic governance, novel investment and funding approaches, long-term orientation, different business models, diversity and equity, and multistakeholder collaboration.

And on my return, I continued to observe these engagement and philanthropy trends through my involvement with AusCam Freedom Project.

Our grassroots organization was recognized at the Infoxchange Technology for Social Justice Conference 2025 as a social innovation leader in Australia, becoming a finalist in the Australian Not-For-Profit Technology Awards for the launch and innovations in our 24/7 Freedom Line, Cambodia’s first and still only teen-girls’ helpline. I'm proud to have helped achieve this distinction through my organization oversight and development of the Awards submission as Chair of AusCam Freedom Project. I canvassed the themes of this charity’s social innovation in my article ‘Phone a friend: Keeping Cambodian girls safe’, which was published by Our Community/Institute of Community Directors.

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Then I also had the opportunity to see these trends up close at three AusCam Freedom Project fundraisers

The first was a Sydney garden party that two board colleagues and I held. It was a wonderful Sunday afternoon enjoying Cambodian inspired delicacies, talking about purpose and impact, and celebrating and raising funds for the work of this pioneering nonprofit.

The second was a community event on a Saturday evening on the New South Wales mid-north coast organized by the charity’s founder. Guests enjoyed inspirational live painting, a raffle and auction, and conviviality, and there was a real buzz in the room.

The third was a mid-week sundowner at Sydney’s iconic Tusculum House. A variety of people connected over Cambodian inspired canapes to enjoy live music, speed artistry, an inspirational talk, raffle and auction, and great conversation.

The common themes and approaches of these various conferences and events were community-based gatherings that brought together likeminded people in an unstructured way where participants seemed to co-curate the events through their active participation. Rather than traditional, large-scale, and formal corporate events with a strong brand/organization focus, these activities were intimate, relaxed, and a celebration of community not of a company/brand. They provided a forum for individuals to connect their own purpose to others, including to the event/organization’s mission. And the outcomes in terms of active engagement and support at every one of these initiatives were palpable!

What do these engagement and philanthropy shifts mean for nonprofits? Are there some nonprofits that seem to have navigated their changing landscapes and, if so, why? These are some of the themes that I’ll be closely monitoring.