Letter from Anguilla

The Anguilla Community Foundation, the first English nation foundation in the Caribbean, is just giving its age-old "jollification" a new millennium makeover.

It began the day from hell. No wake up call. Three people sharing two bathrooms in half the time originally allocated. A jaunt to the ferry port that takes 20 non-rush hour minutes needed to be cut down to 15 minutes--in rush hour. Two-lane roads with heavy traffic. How's that for algebra?

To top it all off, the resort hadn't informed us we'd need passports for what we thought was just a ferry ride from one Caribbean island to another. While vacationing with friends in the neighboring St. Maarten, I just wanted to drop in on two of my favorite people--Carrolle Perry Devonish, former head of the Philadelphia Foundation and consultant to the burgeoning Anguilla Community Foundation, and her board chair, Rhona Richardson, who claims to be "just a farmer" and community activist.

Luckily the "ferry"--a covered speedboat--was late. So after logging falsified passport information (I simply wrote down as many of my driver's license numbers as would fit) we were on our way--to getting seasick. After enduring a crisp scolding/sovereignty lecture for the missing passports from the Anguillan customs official, I apologetically recounted the morning's fiasco to the patiently waiting Devonish.

She dismissed the entire harangue with a smile in what we'd soon learn to be the Caribbean way and said simply, "But you made it."

The "Upscale" Island
Anguilla is a very small country of 35 square miles--which includes several uninhabited smaller islands--and a population of approximately 10,000. The gross domestic product per person is $6,900 (U.S. currency), with major industries of tourism and fishing. The rainy season lasts from August to November, overlapping hurricane season from June to October--though Hurricane Lenny threw everyone for a loop by coming last November.

Although Anguilla depends on tourism, it markets itself differently from other Caribbean islands. No mass tourism--no cruise ships, no huge hotels, no casinos.

"We market ourselves as an upscale island. People--and we're talking wealthy people--from all over the world come to Anguilla simply because of its exclusivity," said Richardson. She calls many of them "ex-pats" (short for expatriates)--people who live on the island at least a significant part of the year and who have a vested interest in Anguilla, i.e., potential donor fodder for the foundation.

Making History
Now up and running, the Anguilla Community Foundation is the first foundation for any English nation in the Caribbean. (The island is still a British protectorate, though it enjoys a heightened degree of home rule.) Devonish was asked by the Honorable Victor Banks, Anguilla's minister of finance, to help establish the foundation soon after she delivered a speech to Anguilla's Rotary Club about community foundations.

"Even the idea of philanthropy is brand new here," said Richardson, who likes to tell of attending her first Council on Foundations conference. "Someone stood up in a meeting and talked about coming from a small foundation that only had about '$60 million.' For us, $60 million is the end of the rainbow."

Yet the foundation still found a veritable pot of gold in Anguilla's Social Security Fund. "They've housed us; we have our board meetings there; they gave us seed money, etc.," said Richardson. In August the Social Security Board endowed the foundation to the tune of 200,000 East Caribbean dollars (approximately $75,000 in U.S. currency). Also, the Anguilla Progressive Association of New York serves as a fiscal agent for the foundation, having recently obtained 501(c)(3) status to receive donations for the foundation, giving would-be stateside donors a vehicle for a charitable tax deduction.

Jollification
Organized philanthropy may be new to Anguilla, but "jollification" is not. "Words like philanthropy are way over our heads in Anguilla," said Richardson. "But jollification is a getting together of people to share and help neighbors. It's the same concept."

One example from the old days was when a man would build a house and his male neighbors and friends would come out to help mix the cement and pour the foundation while the women cooked. Or, tilling large areas of ground--long before there were plows. The men would line up with their hoes and chant as they chopped, "and before you know it, your whole ground was plowed," said Richardson.

Transparency
When she first came to Anguilla, Devonish interviewed more than 70 people about the feasibility of starting a foundation and noted "everybody talked about transparency. It was amazing." Richardson chimed right in, "Yeah, two things in Anguilla you don't mess with--people's money and people's land. You have to tell Anguillans what you're going to do with their money first."

Because of Anguillan's concerns with transparency, the foundation made sure its inaugural board included known and trusted locals such as the Right Bishop Errol Brooks, bishop over the Eastern Caribbean Anglican Church, as well as accountants, journalists, lawyers, a former chief minister and "people like us--chief cooks and bottle washers, everyday people," said Richardson. "We have 18 board members, but the same faithful six we can call on."

Skepticism isn't the foundation's only challenge. Anguilla has no taxes, ergo no charitable tax deduction; the foundation is an apolitical organization in a "very political" country; corporate givers are accustomed to giving and getting credit for doing so--and don't yet understand how to achieve the same end through a community foundation; and the fundraising window of opportunity opens and closes around the tourism season.

But "people who want to give, give," said Richardson, who went on to note a recent gift of $10,000 (U.S.) made to Anguilla's senior citizen home through the foundation, as well as the continued support of the Anguillan government, which is excited over the foundation's potential. "We are not going to beg them for something, but offer ourselves to better the community. We have a beautiful relationship--it's an easy fit."

Next Steps
The foundation's timeline wishlist over the next few months includes setting up its own office space; introducing philanthropy to Anguilla by launching a broad-based multimedia philanthropy education campaign; and formalizing its program area focus, RFP and grantmaking procedures.

One foundation focus will most likely be youth. "We're having a serious problem now simply because the population has exploded," said Richardson, who is also a special assistant to Anguilla's minister for education and youth. "Back when I graduated from school, you either had a job in civil service or you went away to school. Now you have all kinds of children graduating with nothing to do. And you know what that's a recipe for."

The foundation is also working on forming an international advisory board to deal with emerging issues such as offshore investments and developing a "Foundation Sunday" in local churches where special offerings would be collected for the foundation. "People could give even 50 cents," said Devonish. "Giving, in any amount, would mean that people support the concept."

A Circle of Support
In addition to assistance from the Puerto Rico Community Foundation, Anguilla has found mentors in Minneapolis Foundation President and CEO Emmett Carson, Community Foundation Silicon Valley President Peter Hero, Southeastern Council of Foundations President Martin Lehfeldt and the Council on Foundations Inclusiveness Committee.

"Every person we have met has said 'please call on us if you need anything,'" said Richardson. "I'm sure I'm speaking for the whole board when I say we feel adopted."

Looking to widen the philanthropy circle of support beyond Anguilla, Devonish has already made contacts with people interested in replicating the model in neighboring Barbados and Bermuda. "Creating emerging foundations is a really important part of philanthropy," said Devonish. Perhaps oblivious to the double entendre, she continued, "But you can't leap ahead, particularly with a community foundation. You have to start where people are in order to build a solid foundation."

The Return
After a wonderful tour of Anguilla, including the prerequisite beach stop and easily our vacation's best meal, we made it back to St. Maarten--an hour late. The cab driver had promised that morning to meet us that afternoon, and there she was. In that same Caribbean way, she said smiling, "I waited."