It is past time to put communities in the driver’s seat of change.

Billions of dollars are devoted every year to efforts to make the world a better place—crucial work like curbing climate change, advancing gender equality, and building back better after natural disasters. Would it surprise you to learn that less than 2% of that money typically reaches local nonprofits—those that are often closest to these problems?

Look further, and you’ll find more troubling numbers. Nearly half of international aid dollars go to the same 10 large organizations. Year after year. In the United States, Black-led organizations have only 24% of the assets their white-led peers have. Same artist, same tune, same song. And the same problems persist.

People with local knowledge, with lived experiences of racial injustice, poverty, and human rights abuses; people from within communities who want to create change.

In-depth research from GlobalGiving and Global Fund for Community Foundations in six countries—India, Mexico, Nepal, Russia, Vietnam, and Zambia—showed that community-led organizations are more agile, connected, and flexible. They’re able to act quickly because they understand the contexts in which they work. They’re able to harness local assets because they have long-held relationships with their neighbors. They’re able to pivot based on changing needs because they see and feel those needs every day.

Read the full article about community-led change by Donna Callejon at GlobalGiving.