Each year ABFE hosts the James A. Joseph lecture as a tribute to ABFE's co-founder. The event highlights an emerging leader, this year the honoree was a fabulous ABFE Fellow Wendy Lewis Jackson from the Kresge Foundation.
The lecturer was Carrolle Perry Devonish, Executive Director of the Anguilla Community Foundation, the fir5st and only charitable foundation in the country. She talked about an Anguillian concept "jollification", which she defined as cheerful giving to your neighbor. An example is a whole neighborhood coming together to help someone pour a concrete floor. Through the act of helping you get to spend time with your community and you know that if you ever need something, your neighbor will be there for you. A community foundation is no more than a method to make jollification a financial resource as well.
He call to action was for more grantmakers to share their skills and talents with the African Diaspora, especially with communities that are translating their long held practices of neighbors helping neighbors into formalized philanthropy models.