In 2001, the Ford Foundation Office for Eastern Africa helped to convene a series of meetings of eight regional trusts and foundations in an initiative called the East Africa Foundations Learning Group (EAFLG). At the heart this conversation was the belief that resources exist in East Africa which could be drawn upon and held in trust and used to support sustainable Community Development in the region. Donor fatigue and overdependence on external aid were two realities that confronted the participants in these discussions. Enhancing local ways of giving was becoming an obvious option to this reality hence the growing need to institutionalize and promote more formal approaches.
These meetings facilitated networking and learning which resulted in the formation of EAAG as a way of sustaining learning and networking brought about by the Ford Foundation initiative.
At the global level, there was an increasing trend in the globalization of philanthropic infrastructure with more and more Support Organizations being formed to support grantmaking organizations and inspire or stimulate increased growth of philanthropy.
EAAG was established in 2003.The Members of EAAG are spread across the East Africa region and the membership constitutes; Family Foundations and Trusts, Community Foundations, Corporate Foundations and other Grantmaking organizations in the region.
