In a previous post, I highlighted a gap between foundations' narratives about making general operating support accessible to grantees and their actual practices. Here, I go over feedback received from colleagues, friends, and practitioners working on both sides of the grantmaking equation.
The field of philanthropy–at least in the Americas, if not in the broader global North–seems to have reached a consensus that unrestricted support is fundamentally better than restricted funds for organizations. Why then has it kept the practice of mostly providing restricted funding? Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) researched this very question.
An exploration commissioned by Hispanics in Philanthropy in 2021 made it possible to identify 42 funds supporting an array of social justice issues in the region.
The documented funds include those created by institutional funders (mostly U.S. private foundations). Eight of the funds established by institutional funders support work specifically in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). The rest are not directed to specific geographies but rather focus on thematic issues and support work in different regions, including LAC.
Los resultados y hallazgos de la exploración se encuentran en la publicación “De lo Local a lo Regional: Una Exploración del Financiamiento a Organizaciones e Iniciativas de Sociedad Civil en América Latina a Través de Fondos Sin Fines de Lucro”.