An increasing number of funders are seeking to support local activism – often through intermediaries, at the intersection of good governance, environmental rights and/or climate. The Transparency & Accountability Initiative (TAI) members want to better understand the operation, scope, and main challenges of funding at the grassroots. To this end, we turned to the experiences of funds with a strong track record in this regard. TAI conducted interviews with representatives of five South American socio-environmental funds supplemented by desk research and follow-up conversations.

This work plan includes both activities that follow on from the past year and new programming developed together with members according to their priorities.

Pur-Ple, a new research and social innovation consulting in Latin America, prepared this research focusing on how funders can better support locally-led initiatives, including practical tools to help philanthropic transformation. Pur-Ple developed four coordinates to guide a comprehensive transformation in philanthropic organizations, that includes concrete actions, questions and examples of good practices.

Here we are sharing with you a visual report with some of the ideas raised among participants, but not necessarily shared by all. Let us know what you think.

TAI 2022 Annual Report includes headlines from our annual member survey, and our take on shifts in external context and how that interplays with changes within your own institutions. Let us know what you think.

This report is part of a series of D4A outputs including a scoping report for Nigeria; landscape reviews for Nigeria and Colombia; notes about donor collaboration in Nigeria and Colombia, and GI’s role as a learning partner; pieces drawing lessons from the work in Nigeria (this report) and Colombia, and a note reflecting on the implications of these findings for future donor investments.