No local donors? No localization.
Global South leaders face a funding desert.
260,000 global foundations — just 47 in Africa. 🌍
And only 583 grantmaking foundations in India 🇮🇳, none identified in Southeast Asia, with a mere 859 across Latin America. 🌎
Meanwhile, 95% are based in Europe and North America. 🇪🇺🇬🇧🇺🇸🇨🇦
(Which helps explain why local NGOs receive just 0.4% directly of all international humanitarian assistance.)
That’s stunning.
This Harvard research acknowledges the Global South data is incomplete. Plus, this study doesn’t include the everyday non-institutional philanthropy in some countries.
But this study still reminds us that we’re far — far — from achieving localization.
It’s “a hierarchy, within which the Global North does the giving, and the Global South mainly does the receiving,” says Ayo Adene. “... we are stuck in a premise loop, like a bad dream, in which the only solution is to wake up.”
What to do?
Of course “philanthropy arose because of the gaps between the have and have nots,” says Animah Kosai. So ultimately, “it’s the global system and inequities that need to be addressed.”
Until then:
Can foundations transfer more assets to funders in the Global South? That way, locals decide how to grant it within their own communities.
Can we start a joint venture in regions where foundations don’t exist? Then, there’s never a country without a robust and locally-led grantmaker.
Can funders add local team members in the Global South? So at least grantmaking decisions are proximate — since the money is not.
And at the least, can we fund more community-based nonprofit leaders, from where much of the wealth was extracted in the first place?
What other ideas do you have?
It’s time to redraw the philanthropy map.
Because real localization =
local leaders and local funds.
💪🏽💛
(Source — The Global Philanthropy Report: Perspectives on the Global Foundation Sector from Paula D. Johnson & Harvard Kennedy School)
The daily bonus
On the topic of local funding, here’s a new piece from Acumen:
Why (and how) impact investors in East Africa should look beyond Kenya
If investors want to solve challenges and promote regional diversity, we need to invest in East Africa’s startup ecosystem beyond Kenya’s borders.
Sneak peek
Coming up in tomorrow’s newsletter:
Donors fund doers, not daydreamers.
So true, Kevin. Finding local donations to sustain programs has become increasingly difficult. As someone working closely in this space, I struggle to secure funding and get local donors to truly see the need and impact of our programs. One major hurdle is the lack of access to local funds, which could significantly enhance our efforts. Your insights really resonate, thank you!
Well said. And well worth mentioning Gen Dread for tackling a similar discrepancy between the North and South (https://open.substack.com/pub/gendread/p/what-is-the-global-north-bias-in?r=1m7fm8&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web)
As for ways of remedying the funding gap, you kind of mention it. But I'd include Indigenous and community project leaders on the committees that review funding applications in the Global North. We need their voices and their wisdom. Because the only way to fix the system is to stop thinking like the system. And since we in the Global North made the system, other voices and other ways of thinking are the only way we're going to get us out of the system.