Community Foundations are emerging across Africa.
Across countries, Community Foundations are building trust, mobilising local resources and creating practical ways for communities to shape and steward their own development.
Africa Community Foundation Convening · Mombasa 2026
A continental convening for Africa's Community Foundations.
Africa CommunityFoundation Convening
Rooted Giving, Durable Institutions: Building Africa's Community Foundations Movement
Hosted by
IdentityInstitutional strengthCommunity
ACFAOfficial Alliance launch8 October · Mombasa
≈80participants
7focus countries
3working days
1continental movement-building space
The case for this moment
Why now?
Community Foundations are emerging across Africa as locally rooted institutions that turn giving, solidarity and community agency into long-term stewardship. This convening creates the space for them to strengthen their own identity, practice and collective confidence as a continental field.
The field needs deeper connection.
Institutions are at different stages of development, and opportunities for peer exchange, shared learning, common language and movement identity remain limited.
This is a defining moment for the movement.
Mombasa gives Community Foundations and the organisations supporting their development a continental space to learn from one another, build institutional confidence and decide what they want to strengthen together.
What Mombasa is designed to do
Build the Community Foundation movement from within.
The convening is first a space for Community Foundations and the organisations that support their development: a place to build identity, confidence, institutional practice and collective direction.
- 01
Build identity and community
Strengthen a shared understanding of what it means to be a Community Foundation in the African context and deepen relationships among Community Foundations across countries.
- 02
Strengthen institutions
Deepen practical learning around governance, community ownership, local resource mobilisation, grantmaking, reserves, endowments and institutional sustainability.
- 03
Strengthen the support around Community Foundations
Create stronger alignment among Community Foundation Support Organisations around accompaniment, institutional development and movement building.
- 04
Make African practice visible
Surface Community Foundation experience, models, challenges and innovations through peer exchange, gallery displays, exposure visits and community-led storytelling.
- 05
Define what comes next together
Agree shared priorities for the movement beyond Mombasa and launch ACFA as continental infrastructure designed to serve and connect Community Foundations across Africa.
Who the convening is centred on
Community Foundations first.
The convening is first and foremost a space for Community Foundations to strengthen their own identity, practice, relationships and collective confidence. Wider ecosystem actors participate in support of that Community Foundation-led agenda.
At the centreCommunity Foundations
Alongside themCommunity Foundation Support Organisations
Supporting the agenda
Funders & development partnersPhilanthropy infrastructure organisationsResearchers & knowledge actorsGovernment & civil society
Geographic focus
Ghana · Kenya · Malawi · South Africa · Uganda · Zambia · Zimbabwe
The learning arc
From identity to institutions to movement.
Three working days create a deliberate progression: understand the Community Foundation field from within, strengthen the institutions that hold community trust, then decide what the movement needs next.
Day One01
Roots + relevanceUnderstand the movement from within
Begin with place, identity, experience and evidence: what Community Foundations are, how they are evolving, and why their locally rooted role matters now.
Day Two02
Institutions that lastStrengthen the institutions that hold community trust
Work through governance, diversified income, endowments, reserves, institutional development and practice on the ground through Mombasa exposure visits.
Day Three03
Movement + commitmentDecide what Community Foundations build together
Translate peer learning into shared priorities, stronger support relationships and the collective infrastructure that should continue beyond Mombasa.
What should leave Mombasa
Stronger identity. Stronger institutions. Stronger community.
01
A stronger sense of shared identity among African Community Foundations.
02
Deeper peer relationships and connection among Community Foundations across participating countries.
03
Greater institutional confidence and practical capability among Community Foundations and the organisations supporting their development.
04
Clearer institutional pathways for governance, local resource mobilisation, grantmaking, permanent assets and long-term sustainability.
05
Shared movement priorities and commitments for what should continue beyond Mombasa.
06
Greater recognition among partners and funders of the conditions and long-term support Community Foundations need to thrive.
The culminating moment
Thursday · 8 October · 19:00
A continental home for the movement.
The convening culminates in the official launch of the Africa Community Foundations Alliance (ACFA): shared infrastructure intended to connect Community Foundations across Africa through learning, visibility, evidence, peer exchange, advocacy and long-term stewardship — without replacing country-level leadership or Community Foundation Support Organisations.
Official launch5–8 October 2026 · Mombasa