Funding For Intersectional Organizing: A Call To Action For Human Rights Philanthropy

HRFN is pleased to announce the release of our report “Funding for Intersectional Organizing: A Call to Action for Human Rights Philanthropy.”

A translation of the key findings is available in Spanish and French.

View Report

Overview

HRFN’s new report, Funding for Intersectional Organizing: A Call To Action For Human Rights Philanthropy, examines the state of global human rights funding across issues and populations to explore where support for intersectionality may truly exist.

The report is the first comprehensive and global analysis of when and if grants to support human rights reach beyond a single issue or community. The findings show that a resoundingly small fraction of human rights funding supports activism that cuts across multiple communities or issues. Just 18% of human rights grants name two populations, and less than 5% support three or more.

There are glimmers of hope. Funders recognize the ways issues and identities intersect. We find hopeful models of intersectional grantmaking and a deep desire among funders to support movements across issues and communities.

Key Findings:

• The majority of human rights grants address one issue and focus on one population. Of more than 27,000 human rights grants, only 22% were intended to benefit more than one population and 21% addressed more than one issue.
• Funding plummets when we look at more nuanced identities. Fewer than 5% of human rights grants reference three or more identities – for example women of color who identify as LBTQI.
• Grants for LGBTQI people and persons with disabilities are among the most siloed funding streams within human rights philanthropy. 77% of LGBTQI grants and 73% of grants for persons with disabilities do not reference any other populations.
• Few human rights issues are systematically addressed together. For example, of grants to advance environmental and resource rights, just 22% also include a health focus, and 5% intersect with migration, despite well-established links to both issues.