Giving Compass' Take:

• Thousand Currents has been in the global philanthropy space for more than 30 years and is offering insight on best ways funders can help social movements progress. 

• One piece of advice for funders is to not limit their funding to one particular structure. Why is it important for philanthropists to diversify their funding?

• Read about the takeaways from the Neighborhood Funder's Group 2018 Convening and get their thoughts on how to best fund social movements. 

So funders, you want to offer support to social movements? Here’s the essence of what you need to do, boiled down:

  1. Get uncomfortable.
  2. Move more money.

In the 30-plus years that Thousand Currents has been operating in the global philanthropy and social change space, we’ve come to learn intimately the difference between supporting a cause or an issue, an organization or a movement. Here’s our understanding of some of the key characteristics of social movements:

Movements are generally focused on moving systems, structures and institutions toward justice and equity. (FYI, philanthropy is, itself, an institution.) This means fundamentally changing society’s status quo, not just making changes to service delivery for “poor people” (though this clearly remains important and has strategic and tactical importance in movements).

Here are some additional insights Thousand Currents can offer on moving with movements in practice:

  • Be clear: Funders don’t start movements. They fund. They can connect. They may convene. They can facilitate (sometimes, if requested to do so). They can encourage. They back, but they don’t build. Building is the work of movement leadership.
  • Don’t predicate your support on a formal organizational registration. Movements take many forms and often don’t fit into bureaucratic boxes. Limiting your funding to a particular structure undermines the emergent and dynamic nature of movements, and stifles impact.
  • Make the case for why YOU (funder) should be the one supporting the movement(s) instead. Be prepared.
  • See multiple entry points to movements. Don’t get attached to one group or one leader within a movement
  • Know that movement leaders are taking all the risks; their lives, families, communities are on the line.

Read the full article about funding social movements by Solome Lemma at India Development Review