In a year of global unrest, this report serves as a baseline and an offering to track trends in human rights funding. The findings, based on in-depth analysis of $3.7 billion in human rights funding, raise critical questions about where funding does and does not meet the needs of human rights movements around the world. The research sheds light on foundational issues, such as the link between health and racial justice, that have become ever-more visible in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Read on to review key findings, access the full report, and amplify the research.
In the report, we explore key findings, including:
Human rights funding increased to $3.7 billion in 2018, more than ever before. Yet, human rights movements remain shamefully under-resourced in the full funding ecosystem.
A handful of funders have considerable influence. The top 12 human rights funders accounted for 45% of total grant dollars. This means that funders’ priorities can and do have an enormous impact on the field.
Trust remains an issue, especially across borders. Many Global North funders provide more restricted forms of funding to recipients in the Global South and East, or don’t fund them at all. Funding to North America is 6 times more likely to come in the form of core, flexible grants than in Asia and Pacific, and 15 times more likely than in the Caribbean.
Intersectional grantmaking isn’t happening in practice. Though human rights movements organize across issues and identities, our research suggests that much of the funding remains more siloed. Of the grants that specify any population focus, two thirds identify only a single population, and a scant 6% name 3 or more.
There are significant gaps when it comes to funding with a racial justice lens: Funding for health and well-being rights for racial and ethnic groups represents less than 1% of the overall $8 billion in U.S. foundation giving for health. 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.
DIG DEEPER
Visit our interactive research hub to explore
funding by region, issue, population,
and funding strategy.
Read our statement on how we are shifting our research practices to better track funding data related to race and ethnicity and support global racial justice movements.
Human Rights Funders Network supports funders
to deepen their human rights knowledge and
strengthen their grantmaking practice.