Human Rights Funders Network

Adaptability & Learning

Human rights funders should recognize the importance of innovation, experimentation, and creativity in driving social change. This requires moving beyond our comfort zones to build new capacities and fund emerging groups and evolving strategies. At the same time, we are mindful that the drive for innovation can discard time-honored and effective practices. We should therefore complement our openness to new approaches with ongoing commitment to tried and true strategies.

Recognizing that systemic change requires a long-term commitment, we should adjust our timelines and expectations for impact accordingly and be mindful that, in some contexts, human rights work means holding one’s ground and preventing changes that erode human rights. We should foster a culture of learning and speak honestly about failures, unexpected outcomes, and mistakes. We must also create space for open and candid conversations with our grantees to build a community of practice that makes us all more effective in advancing human rights.

Resources

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Equity

Human rights grantmaking recognizes that every person deserves the same rights and seeks to address the root causes of injustice and inequality. This entails applying an intersectional lens to understand how a person’s multiple identities and characteristics—including but not limited to race, caste, age, sex, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, class, culture, and disability—can compound discrimination and oppression. As human rights funders, we must strive to deconstruct our biases and be anti-sexist, anti-racist, and anti-classist in all of our work.

In addition to developing grantmaking priorities that center marginalized groups, we should shift resources to institutions and movements that have the least resources (including those based in the Global South and East) and address the ways in which our own institutions fall short with respect to being diverse, equitable, and representative. We must move beyond merely increasing the diversity of voices and perspectives within our institutions to ensuring that there is fair and equal participation and power, particularly at leadership levels—including boards of directors.

Resources

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Community Driven

Human rights grantmaking should encompass two distinct elements: a commitment to support community-led groups and a commitment to community-inclusive decision-making processes within our funding institutions. Human rights funders recognize that individuals and communities experiencing injustice should lead in articulating the change they wish to see and the paths taken towards its realization. Impacted communities—and the social movements that represent them—must lead not only because we want to shift power, but because they know better than anyone else about their own needs, contexts, and possibilities for change.

Human rights funders should prioritize funding that enables organizations and movements to implement their own visions, strengthen their capacity, and adapt to changing circumstances over the long term. We should make our grantmaking processes more inclusive and participatory by directly engaging impacted communities (with a particular focus on marginalized and excluded groups within those communities) in identifying problems, analyzing structural causes, and determining solutions. We must ensure that this engagement is not extractive, but rather supports the self-determined objectives of these communities and has their full consent.

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Collective Care

As human rights funders, we should support our grantees to pursue holistic safety and protection (including physical safety, mental health, and digital security), as well as community care and healing. Human rights defenders face trauma, violence, and burnout as a result of their work. Threats to safety may be physical, social, emotional, economic, legal, political, or reputational.

First and foremost, human rights funders must always seek to do no harm and mitigate risks. Funder actions can expose grantees and communities to risks; potential risks should be evaluated in collaboration with those affected and held above all other concerns. Recognizing the high incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder, self-sacrifice, and overwork present in human rights organizations and movements, funders should support improved working conditions and adequate compensation so that self-care is at the heart of internal working cultures.

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Accountability

Human rights funders must recognize our own institutions and selves as accountable to the movements, organizations, and individual rights-holders we aim to support. In practice, foundations are more commonly accountable to trustees and donors rather than grantees. This problem will persist until funding institutions commit to being responsive to field needs in our grantmaking priorities and practices, and establish clear accountability mechanisms that include avenues for complaint and redress in cases when we betray trust.

Human rights funders should be open and transparent about our goals and approaches, including our context analysis, priorities, how decisions are made within our institutions, and (where possible) the sources of our funding. Funders should continuously assess and respond to changes in the human rights landscape, including emerging issues or those that may fall under the radar. Recognizing that power differentials can be an obstacle to demanding transparency and answerability, we should be proactive in sharing information with and incorporating feedback from the constituencies we serve. Being mindful that accountability includes being good stewards of information, we must balance transparency with the safety of our grantees, and only share details publicly that will not place them or their communities at risk.

Resources

Grantee Perception Report (CEP)

Power Sharing & Shifting

Human rights grantmaking involves challenging and transforming how power is held and used. Unequal relationships persist that impede our collective work to advance human rights, including between donors and grantees, between the Global North and the Global South and East, and between large well-funded international organizations and small national or local groups and movements.

Human rights funders should seek to share and shift power by incorporating power analyses across our work, establishing participatory decision-making processes, and building relationships based on trust and equal footing. Funders can challenge inequitable power structures by resourcing those whose rights are under attack to build and exercise their own power. This should include providing flexible and unrestricted funding so that grantees have the power to set their own priorities, and establishing straightforward grant processes that do not place undue burden on grantees. Funders must directly acknowledge and redress power imbalances within our grantmaking processes and across all relationships.

Resources

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Climate Justice

Climate justice and racial justice are deeply interconnected. We will encourage funders to collaborate with Global South and climate justice funders to push human rights philanthropy towards climate action. We believe in centering Indigenous communities and other land defenders, and that we must shift towards systems that regenerate rather than destroy. This area of work is likely to be developed and expanded in 2024.

Reports, Publications, & Stories

The climate crisis needs a feminist response, not a military one (Yifat Susskind, MADRE)
Soil to Sky: Climate Solutions that Transform (CLIMA Fund)
Closing Civil Society Space: What Environmental Funders Need to Know (Funders' Initiative for Civil Society)
Community-Led, Human Rights-Based Solutions to Climate-Forced Displacement: A guide for funders (Unitarian Universalist Service Committee)
What The Water Brings: Lessons on Funding Young Feminist Activism on Climate and Environmental Justice (FRIDA)

Global Funding Ecosystem

We are deepening global solidarity and action in philanthropy, because working across geographies will only strengthen the funding ecosystem. We aim to engage more funders from underrepresented regions in our network and from the Global East and South. We are leading research to better understand regional disparities in human rights funding to provide evidence to inform funding practices and strengthen resourcing for human rights action around the world. We will also look at new funding trends such as donor advised funds, tech-fueled giving, and the presence of government funders, and consider the most effective strategies for building transnational solidarity among funders to protect and promote human rights globally.

Reports, Publications, and Stories

The Trust Gap: The Troubling Lack of Direct, Flexible Funding for Human Rights in the Global South and East (Rachel Thomas and Kellea Miller, Human Rights Funders Network)
Human Rights Funding Principles Offer a Road Map to Strengthen Philanthropy (Lesley Carson, Wellspring Philanthropic Fund )
Reversing the trend: The time is now to fund disability rights (Lorraine Wapling, Arlene Wilson-Grant, and Aapurv Jain, Disability Rights Fund/ the Disability Rights Advocacy Fund)
Understanding the Global South: Key philanthropic trends, challenges and opportunities in Asia, Africa, and Latin America (IEFG and Elevate Children Funders Group)
Fund 101: What Is Flexible Funding? (The Fund for Global Human Rights)

Human Rights Defenders & Closing Civic Space

Protecting human rights defenders (HRDs) and defending against threats to civic space are fundamental to advancing human rights. In this area, we bring funders together to better support movements and activists in highly restricted contexts, from closing civic space to acute crisis.

Our approach combines future-looking analysis, crisis preparedness, and cross-sectoral collaboration to address the intersectional impacts of crisis and closing civic space. Through research and analysis, focused learning journeys, and our Community of Practice, we seek to build a more resilient approach to funding. Partners in this work include Funders Initiative for Civil Society (FICS), Peace and Security Funders Group (PSFG), Ariadne (European Funders for Social Change and Human Rights), and HRFN members.

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Reports, Publications, & Stories

Chronicles of Crises Foretold: How Funders Can Prepare, Respond and Build Resilience in Human Rights Crises (Kellea Miller, HRFN)
Freedom in the World 2022: The Global Expansion of Authoritarian Rule (Sarah Repucci and Amy Slipowitz, Freedom House)
Rethinking civic space in an age of intersectional crises: a briefing for funders (Funders' Initiative for Civil Society)
Funding for Ukraine: An Incomplete Response (Rachel Thomas, HRFN)
Before disaster strikes, harness the calm – How the philanthropic sector can prepare for crises (Kellea Miller, HRFN)
Turning crisis into long-term action: Seeding a Collaborative Fund for Central and Eastern Europe, Caucasus, and Central and North Asia (CEECCNA) Region (Nino Ugrekhelidze and Angelika Arutyunova, Collaborative CEECCNA Regional Fund Co-Founders)
Reflections on Discovery Journey on Crisis Preparedness for All Funders (Soheila Comninos and Kristy Delgado, Open Society Foundations, and Cath Thompson, Peace and Security Funders Group)
Advancing Human Rights: Foundation Funding for Human Rights Defenders (HRFN)

Intersectionality

It is imperative for funders to support intersectional, cross-issue, and cross-movement work. Yet, our analysis of the human rights funding landscape suggests that a resoundingly small fraction of human rights funding supports activism that cuts across multiple communities or issues. Our findings raise red flags, but also signal promise: we find hopeful models of intersectional grantmaking and a deep desire among funders to support movements across issues and communities. By showcasing intersectional funding models, creating opportunities for funders to interrogate their practices, and monitoring field-wide progress, we hope to transform human rights philanthropy to more effectively respond to intersecting forms of injustice.

Reports, Publications, & Stories

Funding for Intersectional Organizing: A Call to Action for Human Rights Philanthropy (Human Rights Funders Network)
Vibrant Yet Under-Resourced: The State Of Lesbian, Bisexual, And Queer Movements (Mama Cash and Astraea Lesbian Foundation For Justice)
What can funders consider when responding to COVID-19? (Solome Lemma, Thousand Currents)
Intersectionality: Experiences, views and visions for change (Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation)

Racial Justice

Racial justice funding on a global scale requires new forms of analysis and deep and heartfelt communities of practice. We will partner with racial justice movements and funders to research funding trends and co-create a learning group. We will develop a collaborative analysis of global race and ethnicity issues, incorporating anti-blackness, colonization, caste, colorism, and other sites of movements for racial justice, to guide how members act and fund.

Learn more about our advisors here.

Reports, Publications, & Stories

Where is the money for Black feminist movements? (Black Feminist Fund)
The Dire State of Funding for Black Feminist Movements — and What Donors Can Do About It (Hakima Abbas, Black Feminist Fund and Kellea Miller, HRFN)
It’s time for funders to debrahminise philanthropy (Prachi Patankar, Foundation for a Just Society)
Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Grant Making: A Guide for Reflection and Learning (Open Society Foundations)
A Time to Celebrate and to Recommit (Foundation for a Just Society)
Mismatched: Philanthropy’s Response to the Call for Racial Justice (Philanthropic Initiative for Racial Equity)

Contact Us

Our Vision

We envision a peaceful future where rights are protected and upheld, the planet is cared for, and all people can live and love with dignity.

We believe in co-creating an ethical resourcing community that innovates with heart and shifts power and money in support of human rights.

We commit to transforming systems of oppression by uplifting voices from the Global South and East and those leading social change; centering racial justice; and celebrating all forms of justice, including at the intersections of race and ethnicity, gender and sexuality, disability, climate, digital security, economic and migrant rights, and beyond.

Our Mission

We are a network of funders from the Global South, East, and North dedicated to resourcing human rights action around the world. We use research, community building, advocacy, and communications to advance open philanthropy, in which funding is abundant, justice-centered, open in knowledge and power, and informed by movements. We strive to create a field of funding that is accountable to progressive movements, unequivocally anti-racist, and responsive to intersecting forms of injustice.

Our Values

Accountability: We believe funders must be accountable to one another, to movements, and to the planet. Our network is a place for mutual accountability, learning, and unlearning.
Power Sharing: We promote new forms of decision-making in philanthropy and build collaborations based on trust. We strategize to move money and power to those leading social change.
Movement Centering: We model and promote a funding field that meaningfully centers and uplifts organizers and their movements, particularly Black, Indigenous, and other historically oppressed communities.
Open Knowledge: Open information, data, and knowledge are essential for innovation, participation, and impact. Philanthropy has operated behind closed doors for too long. It is time for substantial transformation.
Racial Justice and Intersectionality: We strive to be justice-oriented, decolonial, and anti-racist, working at the intersections of multiple marginalized identities, as well as other living beings and nature.
Collective Care: Care and wellness are political and matters of justice. We practice and uplift holistic protection, digital security, and the full range of care required to live with dignity.

HRFN STRATEGY: open philanthropy

Since our founding in 1994, HRFN has been a place for funders to take risks, debate, and push the field of philanthropy. In the wake of a global pandemic and world-wide uprisings, we’ve been called on to ask: What role can and should HRFN play to meet the moment? What is most needed to advance resourcing and support human rights globally?

Out of a year-long process, we crafted HRFN’s Strategy 2021-2025: Toward Open Philanthropy.

This strategy honors HRFN’s legacy while also embracing a future-looking approach. It crafts an HRFN that holds a sense of radical possibility at our core and works with joy and love.

Our new mission and vision reflect the input of members, advisors, and movements. Our strategic framework, open philanthropy, is an offering and a hope. Our work continues to bring hard-hitting analysis to inform and guide the field. And our priority areas hone our work, even as we ardently support all areas of human rights.

our STORY

For nearly 30 years, Human Rights Funders Network (HRFN) has brought funders together to collaborate, strategize, and advance the field of human rights grantmaking. Formerly known as the International Human Rights Funders Group (IHRFG), HRFN was founded in 1994 by a small group of human rights grantmakers who wanted to share their strategies and what they were learning, discuss field-wide trends, and collaborate.

Since our inception, our community has grown into a global network of almost 450 institutions across 70 countries committed to advancing human rights through open philanthropy. The Network includes more than 2,600 staff, consultants, and trustees of private, corporate, and public foundations, community giving programs, women’s funds, and philanthropic advocacy and support organizations.

We are grateful for the leadership and dedication of those who have shaped HRFN’s vision and work, including coordinators, Anna Nygaard-Yelk, Mona Younis, and Andrew Park, and past executive directors:

Michael Hirschorn
Mona Chun
Catherine Hyde Townsend
Ana María Enríquez

Grantseekers Resources

HRFN does not provide grants and we are not able to connect organizations to specific funders. We know that it can be challenging to raise funds and that human rights activists undertake difficult and sometimes dangerous work. We hope grantseekers find these resources helpful.

Advancing Human Rights Research Hub

This interactive site provides an overview of human rights grantmaking by region, issue, population, and strategy. The findings are based on annual research by Human Rights Funders Network and Candid, in partnership with Ariadne and Prospera.
Candid

Discover what funders are most likely to support, learn about their interests and perspectives, and gain the knowledge you need to find additional resources.
FundsforNGOS

An online resource that includes listings of the latest grant funding opportunities for NGOs and individuals.
GlobalGiving

An online platform that enables NGOs anywhere in the world to raise funds for their projects. GlobalGiving provides fundraising training and support and may offer to match the funds you raise through the site.

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HRFN strives to build meaningful relationships with prospective members. Contact our team at community@hrfn.org to learn how to join!

Who are your members and how are they selected? / Are there any criteria for becoming part of the community?

HRFN members are grantmaking institutions or individual donors committed to advancing human rights. Membership is institutional, meaning any staff member can participate in HRFN members-only programs.

Institutions eligible for membership must:

Be an institution or individual who makes grants as a primary program area
Be one of the following type of institutions:
- Trust & Private foundation
- Corporate foundation
- Community foundation
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- Bilateral
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Have a human rights focus in its grantmaking
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Membership dues keep our global network running. They cover the costs of our systems, platforms, and staff, and support the organisation of events and our conference.

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Dues are contributions made by our members that correspond to your annual grantmaking budget. View the list of contribution levels.

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Yes! HRFN accepts dues online by credit card. Contributions via bank account on this site are subject to a US$6,000 maximum. For bank account contributions above this amount, please use a bank transfer or send an email with the subject line "HRFN Contribution" to community@hrfn.org for alternate instructions.

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About HRFN

Network Priorities

Our People

three decades of TRANSFORMING human rights philanthropy

Our Vision

Our Mission

Our Values

focus areas to TRANSFORM THE FIELD

Adaptability & Learning

Resources

Equity

Resources

Community Driven

Resources

Collective Care

Resources

Accountability

Resources

Power Sharing & Shifting

Resources

Climate Justice

Reports, Publications, & Stories

Global Funding Ecosystem

Reports, Publications, and Stories

Human Rights Defenders & Closing Civic Space

join community of Practice

Reports, Publications, & Stories

Intersectionality

Reports, Publications, & Stories

Racial Justice

Reports, Publications, & Stories

Contact Us

Our Vision

Our Mission

Our Values

HRFN STRATEGY: open philanthropy

our STORY

Grantseekers Resources

Advancing Human Rights Research Hub

Candid

FundsforNGOS

GlobalGiving

SUBMIT AN EVENT

Contact Info:

Event Information:

How do I become a member?

Who are your members and how are they selected? / Are there any criteria for becoming part of the community?

Why should I become a member? / What offerings are available when I join the HRFN community?

Where do membership dues go?

How do I know how much to pay in Membership dues? / What is the annual recommended contribution for members?

Can I pay my annual membership dues online by credit card?

What is the best way to introduce a prospective member to HRFN?

When does my membership renew?

I'm ready to renew my membership. What do I need to do?

Can members use HRFN’s jobs board?

How can I share my institution’s event with HRFN?

I have an issue that isn’t covered here. Who can I reach out to?

three decades of TRANSFORMING
human rights philanthropy

focus areas to
TRANSFORM THE FIELD