From Extraction to Empowerment: Community Foundations and Philanthropy as Vehicles for Equitable Mining and Just Transitions

On 10 February 2026, the Southern Africa Resource Watch (SARW) in partnership with civil society organizations convened practitioners, academics, civil society actors, and community representatives to interrogate whether community philanthropy and community foundations can offer a viable mechanism for equitable benefit-sharing, sustainability, and justice in mining-affected communities, particularly in the context of just energy transitions.

The discussion was grounded in the recognition that extractivism has not fundamentally changed, even as minerals are increasingly framed as inputs for the green and just energy transition. While the mineral types may differ, communities continue to experience land dispossession, environmental degradation, health impacts, livelihood loss, and weak benefit-sharing.

Participants acknowledged that although mining companies and governments often claim communities benefit through employment, infrastructure, and corporate social investment (CSI), communities consistently report exclusion from decision-making and dissatisfaction with outcomes. Benefits are frequently short-term, project-based, externally designed, and unsustainable once mining operations scale down or exit.

A central critique was that existing benefit-sharing mechanisms—CSR projects, social labour plans, community trusts, and compensation schemes—are largely top-down, lack transparency, and are often controlled either by companies or government intermediaries rather than communities themselves.