Five trends that are reorganizing the way funding agencies can work for philanthropic causes.
From the “new normal” to the “never normal,” from “multiple crises” to the “polycrisis,” our language keeps evolving to describe the volatility and uncertainty that the last few years have made painfully clear. The pandemic, earthquakes, economic crises, droughts, wars—the list is not new, but the costs have been devastating. Now more than ever we need to be asking what we can do to make ourselves and our movements for social and climate justice more adaptable, resilient, healthy, and effective.
Among those questioning their practices are funders of social change. Last year, Spring researched and spoke with funding practitioners about how philanthropy is changing. We focused on five trends from 2020–2022, each of which looks at shifts that have happened and the opportunities that they reveal. To create strong movements, we need money to move in service of just and life-sustaining work. These trends are a reminder that there are changes happening in the field and that now is the time to keep pushing for more and better funding.
Five funding trends
Trend 1: Big funding pledges. Big money is being pledged to big causes. Since 2020, bilateral and multilateral donors and philanthropic foundations have made large commitments to funding gender equality; climate action, including funding for Indigenous peoples and local communities; and racial justice. Some of these pledges also include a focus on community level and movement support.
The pledges do not guarantee transparency and accountability. However, as more funders ask questions about justice, equity, and systems-change in their work, we need to find ways of turning that talk into real practice. Especially now, when donors are looking for ways to get money into the hands of grassroots groups, youth movements, Indigenous communities, and other leaders, it is a critical moment for bringing as much wisdom and experience as possible into developing these new funding relationships and mechanisms.
Trend 2: Bringing flexibility, relationships, and organizational health into grantmaking practices. During the pandemic, funders around the world introduced unprecedented flexibility into their grants by extending timelines, easing reporting requirements, increasing unrestricted funding, and developing more collaborative relationships with grantees.
The need for such practices and the proponents of them long predate the pandemic—and disparities continue to persist for organizations in the Global South and those led by women and people of color in the Global North. Nevertheless, funders have seen these shifts work. There are growing funder movements for unrestricted funding and covering “full costs,” practicing trust-based philanthropy, and strengthening participatory grantmaking. All of this opens opportunities to transform the relationship between donors and grantees. Read more