Program
HRFN’s Festival is a space for funders to learn, connect, and build new visions for philanthropy. Programming will be anchored in four thematic tracks addressing complex forces shaping the future of human rights. These tracks offer focused entry points to explore critical questions and will be woven together for cross-issue action at the Festival. Meet the advisors guiding these thematic tracks here.
Festival Tracks
Climate Justice
The climate crisis demands both systemic intervention and deep investment in community-led power. This track brings together the full spectrum of climate funding — from large scale mitigation and adaptation strategies to frontline land defense, environmental rights, and Indigenous stewardship. Bridging big picture collective action with grassroots visions, we will explore how diverse funders can align resources for a climate-just future.
Technology
From the impacts of the rapid rise of AI and expanding government surveillance to the growing digital divide, technology is undeniably redefining power. This track explores how human rights philanthropy can navigate these urgent pressures and actively fund equitable tech ecosystems that advance rights and strengthen communities in the years to come.
Democracy
& Civic Space
In a rapidly changing world, resilience demands radical, field-wide collaboration to protect democracy and civic space. Grounded in insights from the Better Preparedness Initiative, this track equips grantmakers to anticipate the forces redefining democracy, build the skills and relationships to act at scale, and invest in resilience, future-ready civil society.
Open
Track
HRFN’s community will bring together a broad range of funders and communities addressing the world’s most pressing issues for human rights. The open track serves as an incubator for transformative ideas and urgent intersectional issues that transcend a specific track theme. It provides a dedicated collaborative space to test bold hypotheses and shape the next generation of human rights philanthropy.
Program & Session Types
HRFN’s Festival is designed to uplift insights and action from the community.
We gather through a range of sessions and methodologies.
* Participants are invited to submit proposals for these self-led sessions. Submissions will be open until 15 November 2026. See submission guidelines and forms here.
A detailed schedule will be shared in early 2027.
Plenaries
Keynote presentations designed to spark new ideas across tracks and issues, ground the Festival in South Africa’s rich legacy of organizing, and uplift critical questions for all Festival participants.
Action Labs*
The primary interactive, community-led workshop format for the 2027 Funding Futures Festival. Designed to break out of traditional presentation formats, Action Labs bring participants directly into problem solving, skill-building, and strategy design. Organized by up to four organizations.
Lightning Talks*
Fast-paced, cutting edge presentations designed to spark fresh thinking and challenge orthodoxies in the field. Presenters deliver a single sharp idea, provocative critique, emerging approach, or breakthrough idea on tomorrow’s human rights challenges.
Open Gallery*
A vibrant space to showcase research findings, artistic interventions, and multimedia projects to life in an evening of networking, peer learning, and visual storytelling.
Member Town Hall
Dedicated gathering for HRFN members to come together and shape the priorities of our network and community.
Site
Visits
Place-based learning and direct engagement with leading human rights organizations and movements.
Open Space & Meet-Ups
Flexible space for networking, self-organized meet ups, and donor working groups will be woven throughout the Festival program.
Cultural & Evening Events
Performances, networking spaces, and community events celebrating arts and culture in Johannesburg.
Weaving Across Tracks
The world’s most pressing human rights challenges do not exist in isolation — nor should our funding strategies. We are using tracks not to separate funders or issues, but to provide clear thematic anchors that make our collective work legible, actionable, and focused.
At the Festival, we will actively weave lessons and strategies across the tracks in key ways:
FLEXIBLE NAVIGATION
Tracks are non-exclusive. Every attendee is free to move across sessions and participate in conversations across all four tracks throughout the week.
INTERCONNECTED CALL FOR PROPOSALS (CFP)
When submitting a proposal, session leads will select a primary track to establish the main lens of their conversation. However, applicants are encouraged to explicitly highlight track linkages (e.g., a session at the intersection of climate resilience and digital rights), explore intersectional issues, and submit ideas to the open track, which will be a vibrant part of the Festival.
INTERWOVEN PROGRAM DESIGN
While individual Action Labs and Lightning Talks may offer deep thematic dives, the Festival arc actively weaves these threads together. Dedicated intersectional plenaries and cross-cutting activities throughout the Festival ensure that insights from individual tracks feed into a unified, cross-sector agenda.
COMMUNITY
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