Community Voices Blog
This is a space for HRFN to share member insights on topics related to human rights and grantmaking.
This is a space for HRFN to share member insights on topics related to human rights and grantmaking.
By Salima Namusobya at the Initiative for Social and Economic Rights (ISER)
For more than 15 years, I have worked as a lawyer and advocate for human rights in Uganda. As the executive director of an organisation that mostly relies on grant funding, I was thrilled to learn that grantmakers in the field of human rights had embarked on an introspective process to align their grantmaking practices… Read more
The unprecedented riots, which took place at the US Capital on January 6, sent shock waves throughout the world. And as we try to understand the magnitude of such an attack on our democracy, Mariano Aguirre warns that “white collar authoritarians will continue to work in the United States, and other countries, to impose extremist… Read more
LitTalks: América Latina y el Caribe en el foco. Evento en español con interpretación simultánea en inglés Diciembre 9, 2020 Miércoles, 10:00 – 11:30 AM ET: América Latina y el Caribe Transmisión en directo por Facebook live en español : 🎥 TNP Transmisión en directo por Facebook live en Inglés:🎥 HRFN El resultado de las elecciones… Read more
Latin America and the Caribbean in Focus In Spanish, with simultaneous interpretation into English December 9th, 2020 Wednesday, 10:00-11:30 AM EST Latin America and the Caribbean Live broadcast on Facebook live in English: 🎥 HRFN Live broadcast on Facebook live in Spanish: 🎥 TNP The outcome of the U.S. elections raises high… Read more
By Maria Alejandra Rodriguez Acha, Co-Executive Director at FRIDA | The Young Feminist Fund, and Kinga Wisniewska, Resource Mobilization Manager at FRIDA | The Young Feminist Fund
It is no mystery to those of us in international human rights philanthropy that the mobilization of resources to support social movement and grassroots organizing involves uncomfortable contradictions we have to deal with. We often need to access resources where they are most available in order to provide support. This tends to be in sources… Read more
By Lesley Carson at Wellspring Philanthropic Fund
When I think back to the first time I had the chance to meet with a program officer about a funding application from a well-known New York-headquartered human rights foundation in 1998, I can easily recall the pit in my stomach—I dressed in my best shoulder-padded suit (no judgment) for the meeting. To obtain a… Read more
Letter From Our Executive Director: Funders, Members, Friends, When HRFN was established 26 years ago, it was founded on a simple premise – that by collaborating, sharing strategies, and discussing field-wide trends, grantmakers could ensure philanthropy was effectively resourcing human rights efforts and movements worldwide. Since our inception, HRFN members have done tremendous and vital… Read more
By Maria Alejandra Rodriguez Acha, Co-Executive Director at FRIDA The Young Feminist Fund; Mbali Donna Khumalo, Program Officer at FRIDA The Young Feminist Fund; and María Díaz Ezquerro, Co-Manager of Programs at FRIDA The Young Feminist Fund
The current crises brought to light and amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the unveiling of entrenched anti-black racism, have exposed a core fragility of the philanthropic sector: the lack of alignment between our internal organizational cultures, and our external missions of supporting social movements and grassroots groups to tackle the causes of… Read more
(Version en français) (Version in English) El año pasado, HFRN colaboró con Ariadne y PAWHR para nombrar un Comité Asesor de Financiadorxs y se embarcó en la identificación de principios que guiaran la concesión de apoyos para los derechos humanos. Esta tarea significó que teníamos que ser introspectivxs y honestxs con nosotrxs mismxs sobre qué… Read more
(Version in English) (Versión en español) L’année dernière, HRFN, en collaboration avec Ariadne et PAWHR, a constitué un comité consultatif de bailleurs de fonds pour mettre sur pied un projet visant à identifier les principes directeurs du financement basé sur les droits humains. Ce projet a nécessité pour nous d’être introspectifs et honnêtes avec… Read more