Research Briefing: Philanthropy’s Trust Gap and the Implications for Community Philanthropy Organizations / Grassroots Grantmakers in the Global South and East
Organized by HRFN, Global Fund for Community Foundations (GFCF), and Connecting Communities in the Americas (CCA)
Despite international philanthropy’s potential to be a nimble and flexible source of funding (compared, for example, with international development aid), we see a trust gap in where funding goes, illustrated by significant disparities in grants directed to groups in the Global South and East as compared to groups in the Global North. For years, HRFN’s annual research has signaled differences in how funders in the Global North are resourcing organizations and movements in their own regions versus those based in other parts of the world, such as Latin America or Sub-Saharan Africa. Activists and advocates have long raised this concern.
The new report, digs into these disparities. It finds that organizations in the Global South and East have considerably less access to funding—including flexible funding—even when funders are supporting initiatives meant to impact their regions. The gap exceeds what would be explained by laws and regulations governing financial systems alone and requires honest reflection—on bias, grantmaking practices, and the field-wide impact of implicit ideas about who is trusted to lead change.
At the same time, the findings illustrate the crucial—but often overlooked—role that community and movement-based grantmakers, funds, and foundations in the Global South and East play in moving resources—and power—to organizations and movements on the front lines of efforts to claim and defend rights and entitlements. They also raise questions about the barriers community philanthropy organizations and grassroots grantmakers and funds face.
In this briefing, we will explore these findings and their implications for community philanthropy organizations, community foundations, activist funds, and other grassroots grantmakers in the Global South and East.
This briefing is for organizations based in the Global South and East that identify as community foundations, activist funds, community philanthropy organizations and grassroots grantmakers and / or that are part of the #ShiftThePower movement.
Spanish and Portuguese interpretation and English closed captioning will be available.
Contact us at community@hrfn.org if you are interested in a briefing on our research for your community.