CONVENER-ADVOCATES

Snapshot description

Organisations that convene flexible funders and other stakeholders, produce knowledge, and advocate for flexible funding across the ecosystem. Convener-Advocates do not necessarily fund grantee partners directly, but some provide funds to support the work and advocacy efforts of flexible funders.

Sub-categories

While Direct Champions and Connectors also convene and advocate for flexible funding, Convener- Advocates specialise in creating networks of flexible funders, conducting joint advocacy and producing different types of knowledge on flexible funding.

Flexible funding networks

Direct Champions, particularly those that operate in the feminist funding space, have always recognised the importance of building wider ecosystems of values-aligned funders:

Prospera International Network of Women’s and Feminist Funds is a global political network of 47 international, regional, subregional and national women’s and feminist funds, who collectively provide over 2,800 grants to women’s organisations across 172 countries.⁴⁹ Prospera has grown from a peer-learning network into a more structured, membership-driven service organisation.
Networks also exist at the country level. Rede Comuá, for instance, is a Brazilian network that brings together thematic and community funds, community foundations, and independent grantmakers to mobilise resources for civil society in the areas of socio-environmental justice, human rights and community development. The network currently has 18 members from across Brazil. Comuá’s Advocacy Programme is an initiative dedicated to advancing the cause of community philanthropy at the local, national and international levels.
Other funding networks include EDGE Funders Alliance (Engaged Donors for Global Equity) and Ariadne.

Advocates and knowledge producers

Other Convener-Advocates specialise in advocacy and producing knowledge to support the case for flexible funding. Examples include:

The Share Trust, an organisation that supports and strengthens Self Help Groups and advocates for direct international funding to local actors.
The Radical Flexibility Fund, an organisation that is both a network of partners and a producer of knowledge and resources on how to make flexible funding a reality.
Other organisations focus on the practicalities of operationalising flexible funding. For example, Humentum, in collaboration with Connective Impact, has led a working group to develop a flexible funding attributes framework for funders.⁵⁰

Origins/reason for existing

Convener-Advocates campaign actively for systems change and mutual accountability in the funding ecosystem, and support funders with resources and support on how to improve or amplify flexible funding practices. Prospera specifically focuses on building collective power across feminist movements by advocating for flexible funding, providing capacity building support, and specifically making the case for women’s funds, who have been some of the pioneers of trust-based funding for many decades.

Similarly, Rede Comuá, which describes itself as a network weaver, both advocates for community- led, flexible funding, and works to strengthen its members’ capacity for joint action, including through Communities of Practice in various areas.⁵¹ As described by Rede Comuá:

“Progressive social movements in Brazil exist despite traditional philanthropy, not because of it.⁵² Traditional philanthropy is still resistant to flexible funding, and community philanthropy in particular. It is very controlling! Resources are tied to specific communities, and they expect people to follow the original plan.”

Beyond Brazil, the network also focuses on collaborating with others across the Global South, building South–South alliances.

As noted above, Direct Champions in particular also convene and advocate for changes in the funding system. For instance, the Global Fund for Community Foundations is the steward of #ShiftThePower, a global movement advocating for a more equitable paradigm of people-based development.

Structural features of Convener-Advocates

Convener-Advocates do not directly fund grantee partners that implement activities at the community level, but some have created targeted pots of funding to support flexible funders – often, but not always, members of their networks. This support has been particularly important recently in a context where traditional bilateral funders have drastically cut their aid budgets. Direct Champions, and women’s and feminist funds in particular, often need extra support, given their long-term dedication to flexible funding. Chhavi Doonga from Prospera noted that:

“Women’s funds have taken the burden that other foundations don’t want to take on. During the funding cuts, a lot of funders were looking to women’s funds to fill the gaps because they have strong relationships with their grantees. Women’s funds are early alarm detections for movements, because they are so close to their communities.”

Rede Comuá also provides strategic grants for members to participate in or organise activities related to the network itself, such as Transforming Philanthropy month in September. Comuá’s role is also to promote collaboration across members as part of these activities.

Relationships and funding dependencies

As noted above, Convener-Advocates are deeply relational by design. Their primary function is to weave narratives and networks to achieve systems change and promote mutual accountability. This makes them part of the connective tissue that sustains progressive thinking across the sector. Their success in nesting themselves within the broader funding landscape is dependent on their ability to attract membership from diverse individual organisations and funders with shared values and trust. Their value and strength is therefore in their numbers,⁵³ as they offer a critical mass of organisations and funds that various actors in the sector can engage through a single and coordinated space. Indeed many funders highlighted Convener- Advocates as key spaces to nurture peer-to- peer influencing, especially among the more traditional funders and bilaterals. Though distinct and standalone models, their function tends to complement and amplify advocacy and convening efforts by Direct Champions and Connectors, with the possibility of converging these into sector-wide movements and momentum.

Challenges for Convener-Advocates

A key challenge is demonstrating its value within a funding landscape that prioritises measurable outputs, and whose relationships are centred on money-based resourcing. This means that their contributions are difficult to quantify and therefore difficult to fund. Because Convener- Advocate models are built on shared values, they run the risk of forming an echo-chamber. Aware of this challenge, one Convener noted that they not only curate their own spaces for their members but also have been intentional about strategically becoming part of spaces with actors who do not always think alike.This, they believe, is equally, if not more important than creating member spaces, as it exposes traditional funders and corporations to perspectives and practices they may not typically engage. Another challenge is that while Convener- Advocates may boast a large membership, often, their secretariat (i.e. core staff) is intentionally lean. To place it in perspective, Rede Comuá shared:

“We are 18 members [and], if you count all involved, it’s 400 people and the network [secretariat] is 7 people.”

This, as noted by one Convener-Advocate, can constrain action and sometimes make it difficult to align and manage diverse perspectives. However, this challenge is also reflective of the model’s purpose as it is aimed at convening and amplifying many voices, rather than concentrating power at the centre.

Benefits of the model

Convener-Advocates help surface emerging narratives, and build solidarity and strengthen collaboration across geographic and sectoral divisions, as part of broader efforts to shift power in the international aid system. These models are the most promising in a) converging thinking and narrative building on alternative ways of funding, and b) creating spaces for silences and pauses⁵⁴ for such processes to happen. With traditional donors removed from the lived realities of local actors, this model also partly bridges this gap, offering an opportunity for funders to get a glimpse of grantee- partner work, especially when they are directly represented in those spaces. Convener-Advocates are also great platforms for experimentation. They allow members the opportunity to meet like- minded actors that can co-create programmes that circumvent funding restrictions baked into the system. Connectors and Direct Champions shared multiple examples of various joint funding, advocacy and consortia, and collaborative research that formed through Convener-Advocate spaces.

Both the Global Alliance for Green and Gender Action and the LFS programme said they have influenced and been influenced by Prospera and the Global Resilience Fund for Women and Girls, among others. Funders also noted that Convener-Advocates play a particularly important role in the current funding crisis.

Reflecting on the responses to the abrupt USAID funding cuts earlier this year, Rede Comuá explains how their network resorted to a timely and unified response to the Stop Work orders:

“Many members receive funds from a U.S. government agency – several including Rede Comuá were asked to give money back. […][We] united our judicial efforts to respond using the experience and sharing with other actors not part of the network. We shared externally so we could have a coordinated response within and outside the network. There was the guarantee to have a solution to a common problem. Philanthropy can’t thrive without democracy.”

⁴⁹ https://prospera-inwf.org/member-funds/

⁵⁰ Camara, M. and Anda, A. (2024). Embracing Flexible Funding: A Call to Action for Funders. [online] Humentum. Available at: https://humentum.org/blog-media/embracing-flexible-funding-a-call-to-action-for-funders/?utm_source=chatgpt.com [Accessed: 12 August 2025].

⁵¹ Rede Comuá. ‘Quem somos’ (About us). Available at: https://redecomua.org.br/en/quem-somos/ [Accessed: 05 December 2025].

⁵² Rede Comuá. (October 2024). Social Movements and Philanthropy in Brazil. Available at: https://redecomua.org.br/social-movements-and-philan-thropy/

⁵³ The size of these networks varies widely, from smaller networks of a few dozen members such as the Gender Funders Co-Lab to large-scale plat- forms, with Ariadne being the largest in our sample, bringing together over 600 members across regions and sectors.

⁵⁴ Deven, M.V. and Myrum, J. (2024) How to Fund Narrative Ecosystems, Nonprofit Quarterly. Available at: https://nonprofitquarterly.org/how-to-fund-narrative-ecosystems/ [Accessed: 09 July 2025].

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