Apr 02, 2019

Stars Foundation; With And For Girls;

Funding for adolescent girls has been gaining traction in recent years. While feminist funders have traditionally focused on women and young people, there has been a drive to put more flexible funding in the hands of girl-led and girl-centered organisations.  This evaluation reviews and assesses the With and For Girls Collective, the With and For Girls Award and the awards journey with a view to drawing out lessons from the Collective's experience to help encourage funders to increase flexible funding and other resources to girl-led and girl-centered organisations globally.

Oct 29, 2018

Mama Cash;

Money & Movements brought together 100+ activists & funders to strategise about the future of resourcing feminist movements and social change globally. We came from around the world and across movements – women's rights, sex workers' rights, LBQTI rights, youth, indigenous rights, environmental and economic justice, disability rights, health, and more. Together, we asked:* What is the change we want to see... bold and fully-resourced?* What do our movements need to be resilient?* What would a transformative funding ecosystem look like?* What is the future of funding? Each of these graphics illustrates a key takeaway from Money & Movements. They are meant to inspire funders and movements seeking to build a more just world. Learn more and find versions of this tool in Spanish and French at: https://www.mamacash.org/en/money-and-movements

Oct 11, 2018

Mama Cash; FRIDA The Young Feminist Fund; IWORDS Global;

The research used in-depth interviews and an online questionnaire, as well as an exhaustive desk review to collect data from girl-led groups and organisations, girl-centred organisations and the stakeholders that support them at different levels. This is an exciting opportunity to spotlight how girl-led organising takes place and how funders can provide flexible support that responds to the needs of girls and their organising. 

Oct 01, 2018

London School of Economics and Political Science;

The modern version of the large philanthropic foundation found in the US and the UK emerged in the early 20th Century, but these have increased in size and ambition in recent years. Foundations such as the Gates Foundation offer wealthy elites an opportunity to perpetuate their influence, and thus are accused of enabling plutocratic philanthropy. The growing field of participatory grantmaking aims to address concerns about elite influence in traditional foundations by devolving decisions about philanthropic funding to those affected by the outcome of those decisions. In this research I develop a case study, based on 15 semi-structured interviews with people involved in both traditional foundations and participatory grantmakers, to understand articulations of participatory grantmaking and provide insight into how the approach differs in practice from traditional foundations. I find that inparticipatory grantmaking issues of power are foregrounded, and notions of legitimacy, agenda-setting, and accountability differ. Participatory grantmaking articulates activists as legitimate decision-makers, and unlike traditional foundations, where staff feel primary accountability to an unelected board, participatory grantmaking staff feel accountable to a broader movement. I discuss the broader implications of these findings for participatorygrantmaking as well as the use of participatory approaches in more traditional foundations.  A two-page summary of the report can be found at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zpX7Ry7czcbvtcbzZDFcxZng3lzPR76S/view?usp=drive_open

Jun 01, 2018

Disability Rights Fund, Inc.; Disability Rights Advocacy Fund, Inc.;

This Progress Report is an update to the 2013 "One in Seven" Report about Disability Rights Fund (DRF) and  Disability Rights Advocacy Fund (DRAF's) early years. This report lifts up the accomplishments of the past ten years, celebrates the voices of persons with disabilities, and offers a pathway towards building the future together.

May 01, 2018

MATCH International; Nobel Women's Initiative;

The launch of Canada's Feminist International Assistance Policy in June 2017 included an allocation of $150 million over five years to the Women's Voice and Leadership Program, signaling a commitment to work closely with local women's organizations to advance the Sustainable Development Goals. This presents an extraordinary opportunity for Canada to show global leadership.  To explore practical and creative ways of delivering on this commitment, The MATCH International Women's Fund, the Nobel Women's Initiative, and Global Affairs Canada hosted a panel and workshop that tapped the experience and wisdom of international experts, human rights activists, government officials, and civil society partners.  This report has been prepared by the Nobel Women's Initiative and The MATCH Fund as a summary of this two-day event.

Apr 20, 2018

RSF Social Finance;

The purpose of the RSF Shared Gifting Program is to activate ownership, distribution, and allocation authority for grant funding among the participants of the Shared Gifting Circles. RSF began experimenting with this model of funding in 2011. This document shares our current best practices around creating and facilitating a successful Shared Gifting Circle.

Apr 17, 2018

Mama Cash; Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DGIS);

Dutch development cooperation policy has a long history of providing support for women's rights and gender equality worldwide. It has used a range of instruments for this purpose over the past several decades, at both central government and through its embassies. While funding priorities have changed over the years, some themes have been policy constants and are still part of the current focus. These include empowering women and strengthening their leadership, promoting women's economic participation (access to work) and political participation, and combating violence against women. These policies aim to bring about tangible changes and to enhance the rights and opportunities of women and girls in the Global South. Another constant is the use of a mix of instruments and programmes, both targeting specific activities and mainstreaming gender in other activities. At the same time, there have been shifts in the forms of support for  strengthening women's organisations, movements and networks. This paper will briefly discuss the modalities and instruments that have been used, the choices that have been made, and the lessons that have been learned.

Apr 17, 2018

GrantCraft; Foundation Center;

While slogans like "think globally, act locally" have been around for decades, still so much decision making about philanthropy happens by stakeholders outside them. This paper intends to address the struggle funders face with giving up power, despite caring deeply about championing local leadership and initiatives. Learn about the "community philanthropy approach" and practical examples of how funders have shared and shifted power without losing sight of their strategic imperatives.

Dec 31, 2017

UHAI EASHRI;

UHAI EASHRI is an indigenous activist fund supporting the struggle for the human rights oflesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex (LGBTI) and sex worker Africans. As we look back on the past two years, we remain grateful to our funding and grantee partners who have consistentlybelieved in our funding philosophy and most importantly, to our movements that persist in their resilience and remained unbowed. 

Nov 15, 2017

Ford Foundation;

The Ford Foundation commissioned this paper to explore participatory approaches, especially participatory grantmaking, and their potential use by foundations. The paper synthesizes several existing participatory frameworks, identifies common components, and applies these to philanthropy as a "starter" framework that can, hopefully, be used as a springboard for ongoing discussion and development among grantmakers and non-grantmakers.

Nov 01, 2017

Sillerman Center for the Advancement of Philanthropy;

In this brief, we explore Youth Philanthropy as a model with the potential to make grantmaking more democratic, inclusive, and responsive to the needs of underserved communities. It is also a model that, if more widely supported and expanded, could contribute significantly to the preparation of sophisticated future grantmakers who share social justice values. This brief explores the landscape of youth philanthropy in the United States, providing concrete examples of best practices in youth philanthropy, particularly for teenagers. We review youth philanthropy's potential benefits for both communities and for young grantmakers themselves. We also offer recommendations to funders for how to best support youth philanthropy or how to expand and deepen their support for this growing practice. 

Jan 25, 2017

Funding Exchange;

This publication tells the story of the Funding Exchange, a pioneering national network of social justice foundations that was created in 1979 and operated for nearly 35 years before deciding to disband. Its purpose is to provide an honest exploration of the Funding Exchange's experience – the network's significant influence as well as the problems and internal strains that led to its eventual dissolution. The story offers lessons that have practical relevance for today's social justice activists and funders, philanthropy scholars, and foundation professionals.

Sep 01, 2016

Philanthropy New Zealand; Winston Churchill Memorial Trust;

Using case studies as descriptive tools, this paper examines participatory philanthropy, it's pros and cons, and describes a range of models.

Jun 24, 2016

Baring Foundation;

This paper discusses participatory grankmaking in a general context in terms of pros/cons and cost efficiency compared to other practices. It also discusses strategies and challenges associated with Baring Foundation's LGBTI initiative in Sub-Saharan Africa.