Should We Start Preparing ‘Mass Graves’ for CSOs?

Shrinking donor funding, tougher operating environments, and overreliance on external support are pushing many civil society organizations to the edge. Recent sector reflections showed a sobering reality: a significant number of CSOs would not survive for long if foreign funding stopped. This isn’t just an institutional crisis, it risks silencing the very voices that hold power to account, mobilize communities, and advance social justice. Conversations within the African Philanthropy Network have therefore called for a radical shift toward alternative financing, local resource mobilization, and community-led philanthropy so that African CSOs can adapt, not disappear.

Read more about the call to diversify funding and rebuild civil society resilience.