In our work as philanthropists over the last dozen years, we have learned a lot about what goes on in agriculture and other systems, and we’ve asked ourselves a simple question:

How can the human family be nourished by food that harms both people and the planet in the process of arriving on our tables?

We believe that these systems, where exploitation is normalized so that a small minority can benefit, need to be transformed, away from domination, violence and competition. So we are dedicating our resources, entrusted to us at the NoVo Foundation by Peter’s father Warren Buffett, to help create new systems based in partnership, mutual respect and collaboration.

At the NoVo Foundation (which is Latin for ‘create or change’), we want to support work that allows people’s full dignity and humanity to be recognized, and where those who have been marginalized are heard, valued and respected. That’s why we support organizations like the Fair Food Fund.

Philanthropic dollars can play a powerful role in this task when they are used to support people who are struggling for their rights, along with the activists who work with them. Together they can influence, and help to transform, the larger systems made up of growers, buyers and consumers that knowingly or unknowingly do harm.

Does this sound like hypocrisy? Philanthropic foundations are beneficiaries of a system that fails to recognize the voices and contributions of people who are marginalized. Foundations are endowed with money that may have been made in unjust and harmful ways.

What’s more, many seem to think that they know best, imposing their own narrow frames of reference on other people. Peter calls this “philanthropic colonialism.” Choices are inevitable in a foundation since there’s never enough money to go around, but it’s possible to make these choices in ways that support other people to determine their own futures, especially those who have less power.

This is the polar opposite of philanthropy that imposes a vision from outside, an approach that’s rapidly becoming a new norm.

Read the source article at NoVo Foundation