“When ownership is local and national, and various stakeholders work together, program innovations have a greater chance to take root and survive.”
The global aid and philanthropy ecosystem has long promised to empower local actors, build community resilience, and shift power closer to those most affected by inequality. From the Grand Bargain (2016) to localization commitments by various institutional and private grantmakers,inclusion in philanthropy and ODA, and its importance has been central to sectoral narratives. Yet, only 2% of global humanitarian funding goes directly to local actors (UN OCHA, 2023).
Local and grassroots organizations — especially those led by people from gender diverse (including women), indigenous communities, and historically excluded groups — struggle to access direct funding, influencing program design, or policy direction.
Key Barriers to InclusionAccess & Literacy:
Most local organizations lack the institutional capacity or awareness to navigate opaque funding ecosystems, lengthy proposal formats, or due diligence expectations.
Intermediary Dependence: Local actors often rely on international or national intermediaries who consume resources and dilute their voices.
Lack of Ecosystem Infrastructure: Few systemic efforts support capacity building around grants readiness, compliance, or funder engagement.
Power Imbalance in Grantmaking: Despite rhetoric on participatory grantmaking, most donors continue to set agendas from the Global North.
We believe inclusive -aid and philanthropy requires systemic re-engineering of how funding reaches the local level. We are building a market-oriented solution to fill a systemic gap in the sector.
Our Approach:
Research: Mapping power dynamics in funding flows, analyzing barriers from funder and recipient perspectives.
Curation: Identifying proven grantmaking practices that support localization, and customizing them for specific geographies.
Testing: Piloting a replicable support model that enables local NGOs to directly access and apply to open grants.
Facilitation: Partnering with donors to embed localized strategies, and build system-wide support infrastructure for local actors.
Localized philanthropy requires systemic re-engineering of how funding reaches grassroots agencies.
Our Work
Open Grants Access for Grassroots NGOs: This initiative helps small, local nonprofits identify, apply for, and win open grants as direct applicants - removing key barriers around access, capacity, and visibility.
Funders & Philanthropic Institutions: Embed localized grantmaking support into your funding ecosystem.
Governments & Donor Coalitions: Commission localized philanthropy research and strategy consulting.
NGOs & Grassroots Leaders: Join our growing network of local actors shaping a more equitable aid system.