In his last column for Alliance magazine, Barry Gaberman draws attention to the vital role infrastructure for civil society and philanthropy plays and draws attention to the threat this infrastructure is facing due to lack of funding interest. He describes the various forms of infrastructure including an array of support organisations, research and data collection organisations and groups promoting accountability and reporting on the field. Likening infrastructure to civil society’s ‘plumbing’, Gaberman points out that it tends to be invisible, until it springs a leak and calls on philanthropic organisations to take more seriously the funding of this varied work; going so far as to suggest ‘self-taxation’ of philanthropic organisations across the field. The full article ‘Fix the Plumbing’ can be found by subscribers here.
