Philanthropic funding for international human rights work increased to a record $3.7 billion largely due to contributions from large U.S.-based foundations such as the Ford Foundation, Open Society Foundations, and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, according to a new report released this week by Human Rights Funders Network and the philanthropy research group Candid.
But the groups said the funding still accounted for just 2% to 7% of global foundation funding overall and urged foundations to increase their giving in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of autocracy around the world.
Researchers for the report analyzed data from 2018 — the most recent year for which they said numbers were available — and found that a handful of North American funders had “considerable” influence on human rights philanthropy.
“Writing in a year of so much global unrest, we see this report as … a trajectory of the trends that helps identify places where philanthropy can better meet the needs of human rights movements.”
— “Advancing Human Rights: Annual Review of Global Foundation Grantmaking – 2018 Key Findings”The authors encouraged funders to change the way they give money to better meet the needs of human rights movements. For example, they noted that low-income countries in the “Global South and East” received either restricted grants or no money at all from funders in the “Global North.” And there is a need for greater emphasis on equity in health care, they said.
“Funding for health and well-being rights for racial and ethnic groups represents less than one percent of the overall $8 billion in U.S. foundation giving for health,” the report said. “This is an area where funders have a critical role to play and which we anticipate will shift dramatically in the years marked by the pandemic.”
The report found that 826 foundations in 44 countries provided human rights grants in 2018. Among those funders, 88% were North American. The top 12 funders — which included the Ford Foundation, Open Society Foundations, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, NoVo Foundation, and Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation — accounted for 45% of all human rights funding.
Gender equity groups were among the top funders in the Global South and East. They included the African Women’s Development Fund, Women’s Fund Asia, and Fondo Centroamericano de Mujeres, per the report.
UK government quietly halves funding for major human rights program
The move comes despite a commitment to human rights by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office.
Among the key findings was that funders from the global north provided more restricted funding to recipients in the global south and east. Despite that, funding increased in six of the eight regions examined, including in Latin America and the Middle East and North Africa.
Meanwhile, funding for people with disabilities declined between 2017 and 2018, the report said.
The issue of “equality rights and freedom from discrimination” received the largest portion of funding but still represented only 0.4% to 1% of global foundation funding, according to the data.
Candid and HRFN said they are hopeful the new data will help steer future philanthropic giving.
“Writing in a year of so much global unrest, we see this report as a baseline and an offering, a trajectory of the trends that helps identify places where philanthropy can better meet the needs of human rights movements around the world,” the authors said.
About the author
Stephanie Beasley@Steph_Beasley
Stephanie Beasley is a Senior Reporter at Devex, where she covers global philanthropy with a focus on regulations and policy. She is an alumna of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and Oberlin College and has a background in Latin American studies. She previously covered transportation security at POLITICO.
