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Grassroots Grantmaking
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Perspective
A Compounding Funding Crisis Threatening Global Movements
Behind closed boardroom doors, a quiet transformation is reshaping the human rights funding landscape
Rachel Thomas & Kellea Miller
Grassroots Grantmaking
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Publisher's Note
Philanthropy's Monopoly Era Has Ended
About this issue of Grassroots Grantmaking
Ben Wrobel
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The Name We Almost Had
Three years later, "Team Spirit" makes more sense than ever
Ben Wrobel
Grassroots Grantmaking
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Perspective
Is the Era of Foundation Dominance Coming to a Close?
Philanthropic Beltway discourse centers foundations. But money is increasingly flowing elsewhere
Jan Masaoka
On Media
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Column
Introducing… On Media
A new column for Proximate examining narratives, visibility, and the media that shapes how we think about philanthropy
Tirrea Billings
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Who Will Govern the Global Commons?
How philanthropy, banking and consumer choice could reshape global governance
Jonah Wittkamper and Kate Landon
Grassroots Grantmaking
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Q&A
Philanthropy Is Learned. It Can Be Relearned.
University of Chicago lecturer and donor advisor Jessyca Dudley on why philanthropic norms are neither timeless nor inevitable
Ben Wrobel
Proximate Investing
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Q&A
A Conversation with Ann Boger, Former COO of the Freelancers Union Health Insurance Company
Ann shares lessons on building mutual, inclusive, and portable worker benefits.
Val Elefante
Homegrown Horizons
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Column
Africa's Next Philanthropic Architecture
From Addis Ababa to Sudan, leaders are building the institutions needed to move decisions closer to community
Vincent Mwangi
Grassroots Grantmaking
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Perspective
We're Building Kingdoms. Community-Centric Fundraising Demands We Build Movements.
The sector's obsession with organizational survival is the very thing preventing the change we exist to create.
Maria Rio
Beyond Elections
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Feature
Inside a Kentucky City’s Unusual Experiment in Citizen-Led Governance
In Lexington, 36 random residents took part in one of the country’s first civic assemblies to recommend changes to the city’s governing charter.
Anabel Peterman
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What's Taking Root?
What we’re reading, watching, and questioning across the field
Vanessa Stevens
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Column
The Hidden Infrastructure of Climate Finance
What NEAR's new report and London Climate Action Week revealed
Maria Amália Souza
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Proximate In Person
Event Recap: Future of Development Roundtable in Oxford
On the sidelines of Skoll, we partnered with funders and community actors to discuss collaboration and shifting systems
MacKenzie Bills and Michael Jarvis
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Proximate In Person
Event Recap: Who Holds Power in the Future of Development?
On the sidelines of World Bank spring meetings, partners and community leaders came together to discuss locally-led solutions
Proximate Team
Proximate Brasil
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Analysis
What international donors don’t get about Brazilian philanthrop(ies)
Brazilian philanthropy is often treated as a single, unified field, but that’s an oversimplification of a diverse and complex sector.
Maria Amalia Souza
Repairing Development
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Proximate In Person
Potatoes & Progress
East Africa’s potato boom is transforming farming, markets, and food security through innovation and rising demand
Wambui JL
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Feature
Trump and Jenniffer González Derail Energy Cooperative Progress in Puerto Rico
Philanthropists discuss how to mitigate the funding setback and contribute to energy resilience for low-income communities
Juan A. Hernández and Laura M. Quintero
Proximate Investing
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This Bronx Project Is Setting a New Standard for Community-Controlled Development
The Kingsbridge Armory is now the site of one of the country’s most ambitious experiments in community ownership and shared control.
Oscar Perry Abello
Proximate Investing
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Feature
A Community Land Trust Is Raising the Bar for Community Power in Economic Development
Denver’s Tierra Colectiva is showing how residents can shape — and own — mixed-use projects at a scale once reserved for private developers.
Oscar Perry Abello
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Q&A
In Conversation: Marie-Rose Romain Murphy
Born from post-earthquake aid failures, Haiti’s community foundation model centers relationships as infrastructure
Keefe Murren
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Q&A
In Conversation: John Coonrad
As bilateral aid recedes, a decade-old global movement for community-led development has a long-term strategy
Keefe Murren
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Q&A
In Conversation: Vincent Mwangi
Inside Mama Hope’s model for sourcing, strengthening, and funding early-stage local organizations that are overlooked
Keefe Murren
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Q&A
In Conversation: Amina Evangelista Swanepoel
Roots of Health traces how long-term trust with government – and flexible funding – shifts outcomes on the ground
Keefe Murren
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Editorial
Looking Ahead and Growing our Team
New hires and what's coming up in 2026
Ben Wrobel
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Perspective
Dignity by Design: A New Architecture for International Aid
We need to design for collaboration and shared outcomes
Alía Tall-Khatib
Seeding Power
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Q&A
From Funders to Allies: Lessons from the Nyéléni Forum
A conversation about the role of philanthropy in supporting movements
Ben Wrobel
Seeding Power
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Perspective
Redesigning Finance from the Ground Up
We need to put farmers and ecosystems at the center of food systems finance
Laura Thompson
Seeding Power
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Perspective
Supporting the Food Sovereignty Movement Over the Long Haul Takes Solidarity Philanthropy
The movement has built itself on global long-term vision – will allied funders get on board?
Chung-Wha Hong and Saulo Araujo
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Perspective
Architects of the Future: How Young Feminist Artists Are Leading Cultural Change
Jody Myrum and Erin Lynn Williams
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Perspective
To Restore the Middle Class, We Need More Owners
An excerpt from Capital Evolution: The New American Economy
Seth Levine and Elizabeth MacBride
Community Philanthropy
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Perspective
What The Global South House Reveals About Power and Philanthropy at COP30
Inside an architecture of collaboration built by Global South networks
Paula Tanscheit
Grassroots Grantmaking
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Perspective
Reimagining Giving for Animal Protection – a Trust-Based Approach
Why trust, not algorithms, will shape the future of animal advocacy
Ondine Sherman
Proximate Investing
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Perspective
Reclaiming Place: the Kensington Corridor Trust Model
A Philadelphia neighborhood trust shows how local ownership can build lasting community strength
Sandhya Nakhasi
Grassroots Grantmaking
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Q&A
This Calculator Knows What It Costs To Get Funded
A new tool from Shifting the Funding Paradigm looks to expose the hidden collective cost of grant applications
Proximate
Grassroots Grantmaking
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Perspective
Wherefore Participatory Grantmaking in the Age of Urgency?
Care about democracy? Make it part of your grantmaking process
Cynthia Gibson and Kelley Buhles
Repairing Development
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Column
The Future of Development is Stuck on Semantics
When we focus too much on definitions, real needs go unmet
Isabelle Clérié
Proximate Investing
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Editorial
When Participatory Investing Meets Compassion
The next era of participatory investing needs to embed compassion, too
Ben Wrobel and Brooke Tucker
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Are We Leveraging Our Collective Power?
Reflections on Dreaming, Intergenerational Knowledge, and Feminist Practice
Divya Mukand, Theo Sowa, and Laura Vergara
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Editorial
The Global South House is Coming to COP30
This year in Bélem, a new space will host conversations about shifting power in climate finance
Ben Wrobel
Donor Advising
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Perspective
Setting the Philanthropic Advising Field Free
Philanthropy doesn’t need more gatekeepers – it needs open source information
Molly Judge
Proximate Investing
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Q&A
Five Myths About Participatory Investing and the Law
An interview with Bruce Campbell on structuring participatory investment vehicles
Ben Wrobel
Proximate Investing
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Analysis
How Two Growing Communities Attracted Capital for Affordable Housing
In the Coachella Valley and Atlanta, the Capital Absorption Framework helped build a pipeline for affordable housing
Dmitriy Ioselevich
Seeding Power
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Q&A
What Seed Sovereignty Looks Like When Women Lead the Way
Nous Sommes la Solution is a movement of rural women fighting for agroecology and seed sovereignty
Isabelle Clérié
Proximate Investing
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Analysis
Reimagining the Playbook for Communities Seeking Private Investment
The Capital Absorption Framework empowers community leaders to take a more active role in leveraging private capital
Dmitriy Ioselevich
Proximate Brasil
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Strategic Philanthropy Goes to Therapy: Session Two
The second part of an ongoing series
Joana Ribeiro Mortari
Common Ground
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Feature
Reclaiming the Commons: A New Vision for Nonprofit Infrastructure
Why shared management – not isolated entities – should be the default
Thaddeus Squire
Proximate Brasil
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Column
Filantropia Estratégica no Divã: Segunda Sessão
A segunda parte de uma série
Joana Ribeiro Mortari
Common Ground
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Predictions
Solving the Puzzle of Feminist Fiscal Sponsorship
Recommendations for funders and fiscal sponsors on a "thorny" tension
Bipasha Ray
Grassroots Grantmaking
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Q&A
New Seneca Village Sees Restoration as Core to Leadership
At the edge of burnout, a new model for healing movement leaders takes root
Proximate
Grassroots Grantmaking
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Q&A
What Does It Take to Fund Radical Collaboration?
A conversation with BLIS Collective about their new Radical Collaboration Fund
Ben Wrobel
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