Giving in the Caribbean: Building upon Cultures of Generosity to Strengthen the Nonprofit Sector

Abstract

The Caribbean region spans as many as 30 — mostly very small — countries, states and territories, all located within the Caribbean Sea and the surrounding coasts. The countries, although of varying sizes and with different languages and cultures, have close proximity and many are islands. Furthermore, they share a history of colonization of the indigenous peoples by Europeans, namely the British, French, Dutch, Portuguese and Spanish, all of whom imported Christianity to the region directly or via missionaries, and introduced the West African slave trade starting in the 16th century to further the economic prospects of the colonizers. European colonizers were followed by indentured servants and immigrants from India, China and other countries in the 19th century. This shared history may have resulted in shared philanthropic values, based on the role of the church and missionaries. So although the region represents some 30 different political entities, scholars of Caribbean studies, Hillman and D’agostino (2003) have suggested there are ‘significant structural variations and divergent constitutional traditions yet ultimately appear to function in similar ways’ (p. 165). Therefore, given the lack of country-level data, it is reasonable to speak of this region as a whole with respect to its philanthropic landscape. As such, this chapter will simply provide a general overview of philanthropy in the region.

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