End of the Year Review
A message from the Board Co-Chairs
It's been quite the year of transition for many of us, and that's true at EDGE as well.
The pandemic meant another year of not convening in person for our annual conference—though we made the most of it with an inspiring gathering for our European members! The EDGE magic was evident as old and new friends alike reconnected in our shared home within philanthropy. It was further motivation for us to gather in person in 2023, which we plan to do, as well as offering a gathering for our members in the Americas (more details to come)!
2022 was also a year of farewells at EDGE, as we sent our brilliant and fearless Executive Director Sofia Arroyo off with love and appreciation for her leadership over the last three years. We know she'll continue to provide leadership in the movement and within the EDGE community. We also bid a fond goodbye to Fernanda Garcia Naranjo who worked tirelessly to keep EDGE moving along with her tremendous administrative support. As we said goodbye to some, we welcomed a new Finance Director, Ana Jerolamon, to the team, and she's settled in seamlessly (much to the relief of Sharon Damelio, our amazing and dynamic Treasurer!). We are also happy that Hana ElSafoury who has been a consultant at EDGE is now a full-time member of the team as the Program and Community Building Officer. We are excited to begin the search for our next ED shortly and have just appointed a search firm that we have engaged to carry out a thorough and participatory process to help us understand our collective needs from this role. We look forward to sharing more about this process with you soon.
We'd like to extend warm thanks to everyone in the EDGE family who has stepped up to lead in so many ways this year. From the EDGE staff who've continued their amazing work despite the challenges that come with any transition, to board members who've stepped up in big and small ways to the members of the Americas and European Steering Groups who've led incredible programmatic work and to our members who showed up and actively participated in our multitude of offerings over the year —the various parts of EDGE came together to make sure that those seeking a home for radical, systems-change approaches to social change and philanthropy are welcomed and nurtured.
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Eva Rehse & Ryan Canney
EDGE Funders Alliance Co-Chairs
Organizing Progressive Philanthropy
Celebrating New Members
members
107
EDGE Funders Alliance
is now made up of
8
New members
Based in the Americas, Europe,
and Asia
Welcome our latest addition to the network
Annual Conference
2023
The EDGE community has been longing for it, the EDGE staff has been excitedly waiting to announce it and Berlin cannot wait to welcome us all…
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the EDGE Annual Conference will be back in the new year!
In October 2023 (exact dates to be announced very soon), the EDGE Funders conference will take place as a space for funders and social movements to connect, learn and organize together in support of the systems change we are in need of. EDGE members and friends will have the opportunity to reconnect with each other, share practices and tools and coordinate future activities. EDGE members and movement will be invited to join the Conference Planning Committee to collaboratively shape this organizing and learning space. We cannot wait to let you know more!
Engagement Activities for Members
EDGE members are part of a global philanthropic network committed to systemic change for a more just and equitable world. EDGE Funders offers a variety of spaces for members to build community and conspire to change philanthropy, and we are excited to continuously co-shape new spaces for deep collaboration in partnership with our community.
Regional Retreats
In 2022, EDGE members based in Europe met in Cassis, hosted by EDGE member Camargo Foundation. During the European Gathering, EDGE members and representatives from civil society had the opportunity of exchanging in regards to municipalism, food sovereignty, aggression in Ukraine, climate justice, EDGE governance, and much more.
In the upcoming year, we are looking forward to re-creating intimate regional spaces both for European members and (for the very first time in person!) for members based in the Americas. We are looking for intimate venues that can promote true connection and collaboration among members, and will decide on location and time in close collaboration with the Regional Steering Groups.
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EDGEy Wednesday
EDGEy Wednesdays is an engagement series that supports inter-network knowledge sharing. Monthly, we host 90-minute open-space meetings in which EDGE members can propose and facilitate conversations around topics they feel passionate about and believe other EDGE members could benefit from.
This year we had three amazing EDGEy Wednesday gatherings in which members connected in a like-minded peer community, shared current challenges, and uplifting examples on how philanthropy can respond to systemic crises. Stay tuned for new sessions coming up in 2023!
Open space conversations in 2022 European Retreat
Regional Breakfast Meetings
Sharing initiatives we are working for and finding co-conspirators and collaborators is a very important part of our daily work. For this reason, EDGE decided to launch the EDGE Regional Breakfast, monthly conversations that allow members to connect, share and learn. All initiatives and updates are collected and shared with the whole global membership at the beginning of each month.
Town Halls
The newest EDGE experiment, town halls are spontaneous informal meetings organized by EDGE members in cities where EDGE membership is particularly present. These meetings are an opportunity for members to connect, get to know each other and strengthen relationships among peers working in philanthropy. We all know how challenging it can be to work in this field, and at EDGE we strongly believe in the importance of creating spaces for true connection and mutual support. Are you an EDGE member and interested in organizing a town hall in your city? Reach out to martina@edgefunders.org
Open space conversations in 2022 European Retreat
More spaces to collaborate: Slack Channels
Cross-collaboration among EDGE members will be strengthened through the launching of an EDGE Slack Channel, with the objective of facilitating conversations, cross-collaboration, and sharing information among us. EDGE’s mission is to build community and change philanthropy for systemic alternatives and this channel aims to be an integral part of this larger effort of engaging this community towards a just transition. An example of a concrete collaboration that we hope to nurture thanks to the Slack Channel is the #UkraineSupport working group, which was initiated immediately after the Russian aggression in Ukraine, which led to the development of the “Crisis and Rapid Response Funding Support for Ukraine,” a resource document to support resource mobilization to Ukrainian movements and activists.
If you are a member, you will receive the link to join the slack channel in our first members’ update of the year!
Just Transition and Systemic Change Initiatives
Collaborative spaces starting in 2023
Creating spaces for peer to peer sharing and changing philanthropy for a just transition is a fundamental part of our work. In 2023, we are proposing to launch the following collaborative spaces, inspired by EDGE members' needs. Objectives and structure of the spaces will be shared collaboratively with the members, but here below we’d like to offer a first overview. Are you a member and would like to collaborate with EDGE staff in shaping these spaces? Don’t hesitate to reach out to Martina!
Agroecology Space
We are looking at a future with a major food crisis as the population increases at a higher rate than production. In the name of food security, many governments are corporatizing food production with no attention to the fact that 80% of the food we consume comes from small farmers. We will discuss how to fund a better food system, delving into different cross-cutting topics.
Municipalism
and Democracy Space
A space to explore together the role of philanthropy in uplifting initiatives dedicated to promoting democracy, inclusive societies, and equitable economic growth. In this space, we hope to share practices from all over the world and build powerful connection to highlight and sustain the work done globally.
Investments and
Endowments Space
Where does philanthropy's money come from? How are foundations investing their endowments? Is there a way to align funding sources with funding intentions? What can we do in our foundations to continue pushing for that alignment? This space will offer an opportunity to dig deeper on this topic and any other aspects of investments members would like to explore further.
Ongoing Initiatives
In the new year, our community of funders and movement organizing will continue to engage in our existing initiatives and intersectional dialogues. We would like to share our gratitude to everyone involved in building new narratives through these spaces.
Climate Justice Initiative
The Climate Justice Working Group is a joint movement-funder space, whose primary focus is to develop a broad analysis of Climate Justice and Climate Justice Philanthropy. Last year’s working group discussions resulted in the publishing of the report “Beyond 2%: From climate philanthropy to climate justice philanthropy“, and this year the group continues offering this space to those interested in strengthening climate justice philanthropy. A sub-working group was also formed to organize efforts and learn more about the Egyptian context through first-hand experiences. The working group met in person at COP27 to reflect on the decisions made at COP this year and to strengthen relationships amongst participants.
Gender Justice Initiative
The Gender Justice Initiative (GJI) is a collaborative group formed by civil society representatives and funders, who get together in different spaces to discuss and strategize on ways of spreading the word of the importance of broadly incorporating the gender lens into the various processes within philanthropy. In 2022, members of the GJI presented and curated conversations that ranged from protecting older women victims of violence, launching the Global Alliance for Sustainable Feminist Movements, to organizing feminist movements. You can check recordings directly on our website.
Economic Justice Dialogues
From 2022-2024, EDGE is hosting feminist leaders from academia and civil society to explore the landscape of economic justice and feminism with an interdisciplinary lens. We are excited for the second phase of the project where we will invite funders and philanthropic practitioners from the EDGE membership to hear the group’s wisdom, allow for better and more long-term resourcing of reimagining economies and show an intersectional understanding and analysis to donors working on economic and gender issues.
Artwork by: Patricia Kunrath
Racial Justice Dialogues
During the course of 2021, Ariadne Network, EDGE Funders Alliance and Gender Funders Co-Lab started the Racial Justice Dialogues. This program is for members of the three networks who aim to better work on racial justice in Europe and who are committed to building a community of European funders and organizers that will support a long-term approach to equity and justice-centered around anti-racist philanthropy. The program aspires to provide participants with a deeper understanding of the racial justice context in Europe, as well as tools to truly work with a racial justice lens and move more money toward the field. This is a 9-months program that will continue in 2023.
Photo by Miles Peacock via Unsplash
Funding For Real Change
In order to advance and amplify work developed by the Funders for Real Cost, Real Change Collaborative around indirect cost coverage, as well as research commissioned by the Ford Foundation’s on the need for more multi-year flexible funding, Ariadne and EDGE Funders Alliance came together to create this website to support funders in their journey towards more flexible and equitable giving.
This website offers a spectrum of practices and resources that vary in flexibility: starting with increasing indirect cost coverage all the way to multi-year flexible funding. We recognize that there is not one single call to action that fits all funders globally. Only you can choose what practices fit your work best.
No matter where you are in your philanthropic journey, we hope that this website provides resources about practices that can help move your grantmaking further toward equitable and impactful practices that disrupt the nonprofit starvation cycle.
Members’ Corner: Initiative spotlights
Karibu Foundation
Karibu New Realities Grant
Karibu launched a new grantmaking pilot program in 2022, with partners in Sub-Saharan Africa. The project takes a participatory grant-making approach, where African activist and civil society members defined a majority of the criteria, reporting requirements, and not least the decisions of what initiatives received grants within the bounds of this pilot project.
Fundo Casa Socioambiental
Guardians of the Forests – Financing for Climate Resilience
The publication brings reflections and lessons learned by Casa Socio Environmental Fund on developing a methodology contrary to the logic of conventional philanthropy, where people’s needs were mapped and a structure was created that could respond quickly, efficiently, flexibly, with care, and trust.
Guerrilla Foundation
Participatory governance & collectivised resourcing trial
An experiment by the Guerrilla Foundation taking place between January 2022 until the end of 2023, piloting ideas for participatory governance and collectivized resourcing after 5 full years of operation. This article (of three published) offers a glimpse into the motivations and questions underlying this experiment, providing insights on the whys, whats and hows of this trial. This is the first one of a series where the foundation will lay out the nitty gritty details of its participatory practices and processes, namely by showcasing the collective bodies that are shaping this experiment - the Activist Council and the Funders Circle.
Grassroots International
Campaign to support Palestine
Nearly 150 members of the progressive philanthropy community converged in mid-November for a lively webinar celebrating the launch of Funding Freedom: Philanthropy and the Palestinian Freedom Movement, a new report published by Solidaire Action. The report outlines the increasingly severe attacks on organizations that support Palestinian rights and offers human rights funders a roadmap for creating the conditions to give sustainably, consistently, and without doing harm. EDGE member Grassroots International was part of the process behind the report and is highlighted within the report for its role as a movement support funder committed to Palestinian liberation.
CS Fund
Supporting Just Transitions
CS Fund launched their Just Transitions grantmaking program. The fund will be resourcing the building of 'connective tissue' across different movement sectors and geographic regions in South Asia, West Africa, Central America, the Caribbean, and the US doing work on Climate Justice, Environmental Justice, Food Sovereignty, Agrarian Land Reform, Indigenous Sovereignty, Digital and Data Justice, Black Liberation, LGBTQIA+ Justice, Worker Justice, Grassroots Democracy, Solidarity Economy, and more.
Resources from the EDGE Staff
If you’re looking for some readings and resources (or music!) to guide you and keep you inspired in your systemic change work, here are some the staff recommend!
