Funding Movement Infrastructure

Summary

A short, practical brief from the Building Movement Project, distilled from two years of funder labs, on seven barriers foundations face in backing social movements, from distrustful boards to siloed, short-term grants. Because “Movements are intersectional, reactive, and non-linear in nature”, funders should judge impact by shifting focus “from a specific issue to the overall power of a community”.

Rationale

How this work is financed matters to us because economic arrangements reinforce dispositions too. Its funder barriers are a practical map of where financing gets in the way.