Welcome to a new newsletter for Proximate, where we will ask the critical question: What’s next for resourcing social justice and feminist movements around the world?

In the past five years, many of us have found ourselves asking the question: where will the money come from for our movements?

Starting around 2020, the sources of funding that movements long relied on have been shrinking, disappearing, or shifting focus. For a few years, the question itself fueled urgent conversations and action.

But in recent weeks, the question itself has started to feel out of date. The fact is: the money we used to rely on is not coming back. We need to shift our attention away from what was, and toward what will be.

That is the purpose of this newsletter. Each month, we will interrogate the question: what’s next? What new forms of resourcing are emerging – including but also beyond traditional funding models? How will movements for the rights of women, LGBTIQ people, young feminist activists and others sustain themselves in a changing world order?

We do not pretend to have all the answers. Unlike much of the solution-driven discourse dominating 2025, we will not attempt to provide neat conclusions. Instead, we will hold space for inquiry, dialogue, and the messy, generative process of imagining something different.

What we do bring are our perspectives from over sixty cumulative years of experience from four continents where we have lived, worked and organized. We also bring a global network of thinkers and changemakers, whom we will consistently engage. 

So let’s get going. In this inaugural edition, we will reshare a set of provocations that we developed for the recent AWID conference, that will frame this project.

We’ll then share some initial thoughts on the future of resourcing, including Gen Z, donor-advised funds, and more.

Join us in this conversation (or feel free to opt out here) as we challenge assumptions, disrupt outdated models, and make room for what has yet to emerge. Because in order to build the future, we must first be willing to learn from and let go of the past.

Warmly,

Angelika Arutyunova

Amina Doherty

Leila Hessini

Our Guiding Provocations

In December 2024, we posed a series of Provocations for the Future – a call to rethink how we sustain and strengthen our movements.

Shortly afterward, we hosted a set of dynamic workshops where more than 200 participants shared their insights, sparking rich conversations around these critical questions. 

Below are the provocations we posed. In the months ahead, we’ll take a closer look at one at a time.

• New models of infrastructure [Liberatory infrastructure]: True sustainability is tied to liberatory infrastructures—community-owned capital, land, shared resources, and mutual aid. What new models can we build?

• The opportunity to rethink funding [Horizontal resourcing]: shifting from a North-to-South model to local, national, and regional resourcing. How do we unlock and activate these possibilities?

• The limitations of the traditional NGO model [Beyond NGOs]: What alternative strategies will sustain diverse, fluid, and people-powered organizing?

• Resourcing beyond financial capital [Beyond financial capital]: including time, talent, and deep relationships. What if we approached it holistically, beyond just funding?

• Breaking down silos [Unexpected alliances]: How do we build movements that thrive on connection, break out of echo chambers, and invest in relationships across and beyond the feminist movement?

• Space for multiplicities of organizing [Room to be expansive]: Feminist organizing takes many forms, shaped by geography and culture. How do we support the "glue" of interconnected activism?
  

Through this project, we’ll share these evolving discussions with you—inviting engagement, deeper inquiry, and collective visioning. Let's start now.

Collective imagination: How will movements be resourced?

Each month, we’ll highlight a few concrete examples, propositions, and opportunities for new funding sources supporting social justice and feminist movements.

As promised, we’ll be raising more questions than providing answers. So, you be the judge—and the experimenter. Will these sources truly deliver the resources needed as we move forward?

1. Gen Z?

In their article The New Face of Philanthropy, Akinyi Ochieng and Kika Chatterjee present a compelling argument that the younger generation is engaging in philanthropy and activism very differently than their parents and grandparents.

To start, they get their news and information from different places – the authors write that organizations looking for resources should consider engaging with platforms like TikTok, and leveraging the voices of social media influencers. 

We agree – digital outreach can serve as not only a key fundraising tool, but also a critical space for political education and mobilization. Young people are also organizing intersectionality, across issues, linking their giving to advocacy demands and connecting art, music and activism.

Feminist organisers and resource mobilizers need to expand our engagement with, outreach to, and understanding of how to engage youth more by meeting them where they are. As one example, the African Girls Fund is doing just that. 

2. Donor-advised funds?

Donor-advised funds have become an unavoidable part of the philanthropy conversation. According to the latest data, DAF charitable assets were estimated at $250 billion in 2023, and these funds make up a steadily growing ratio of the giving landscape.

We recommend keeping a close eye on developments in the DAF space, considering them as a potential funding source, and proactively engaging with foundations that manage DAFs. This recent article provides a clear explanation of DAFs and offers practical guidance on engaging with them (their analysis may be less accessible to organizations outside the US or without a US fiscal sponsor).

Meanwhile, Proximate has been producing stories about DAF reform – asking how to “unlock abundance” that is currently sitting unused in charitable bank accounts.

3. Women philanthropists?

Check out this amazing initiative by Adɔyɛ- Love in Action (formerly known as Women in African Philanthropy) that aims to recognize, understand, celebrate, support, and amplify women’s significant roles and impacts in all areas of philanthropy across Africa.

Women across the globe give in various ways that are grounded in collective solidarity, identity and mutuality.  They are sharing knowledge, social and political capital, labor, care, assets, mediation and financial resources. From embedded giving to horizontal systems to move resources, to collective funds to community foundations, women have and are redefining philanthropic narratives, architectures and systems.

Why do we know so little about these diverse ways of giving and whose knowledge production is centered, recognized, and legitimized. And what is our agenda for knowledge building and sharing the continuum of giving practices?

4. Income-generating assets?

The West Africa Civil Society Institute, or WACSI, is the source of some great analysis on post-aid development. In their recent white paper, Wealth Creation, WACSI’s Nana Asantewa Afadzinu and Charles Kojo Vandyck outline the limitations of donor dependency, and ask: how can civil society organizations build wealth creation strategies, in a way that is not extractive or exploitative?

They offer a broad range of ideas, from building social enterprise models (i.e. running a skills-training program that generates income through modest fees) to investing in physical or intellectual assets that generate income (like a solar-powered community hub). Take a read, and let us know what you think.  

5. “Post-capitalist” philanthropy?

Now is a good time to revisit Alnoor Ladha and Lynn Murphy’s powerful 2023 book, Post Capitalist Philanthropy: Healing Wealth in the Time of Collapse. Two years later, the collapse is farther along, and the message is even more urgent than before. 

For a primer, read this insightful review by Black Feminist Funds’ Vanessa Thomas.  Read the review. Read the book. Then, let’s explore the emerging possibilities you see and reflect on the five elements of the mandala.

What We're Reading (and thinking about)

Each month, we’ll also share thought-provoking articles and podcasts, accompanied by our reflections and commentary—offering new angles, critical insights, and bold provocations to deepen the conversation.

• Research Shows MacKenzie Scott’s Gifts Create Sustained Impact: Surprise, surprise! Large, unrestricted funding leads to lasting impact—who would’ve thought?
  
  But seriously, it’s great to see this groundbreaking philanthropic experiment from a few years ago documented, proving its success. Give it a read and use it to advocate for unrestricted resources and trust in communities in your fundraising efforts!

• Those of us who rely on aid must accept the new reality and shape our own destiny: Several articles surfaced immediately after the USAID funding freeze. While we won’t highlight them all, one key theme stands out: dependency.
  
  It’s encouraging to see this moment sparking a broader conversation about reliance on a single major funder—whether government or private philanthropy—both of which are often unpredictable in longevity and flexibility. Let’s use this as an opportunity to rethink resource mobilization and ensure we’re protecting our ass(ets) from all angles.

• As USAID Is Gutted, Here’s How Philanthropy Can Stop Panicking and Start Helping: One more on USAID. Our friend Kellea Miller nails it—philanthropy must do better and act strategically. She lays it out with sharp, direct calls to action for private philanthropy.
  
  We agree, and—it’s not enough. This moment demands deeper self-reflection and a fundamental rethink of philanthropy and development. It’s also time to question the “democracy is at stake” narrative—whose democracy, on whose terms, and at what cost? For decades, philanthropy has upheld Global North power while creating harmful dependencies. Let’s not just react—let’s use this moment to build something stronger, more independent, and truly just.

• A Snapshot in Time: Data Highlights for the Feminist Funding Ecosystem: This is a valuable and up-to-date compilation of current funding trends by the Alliance for Feminist Movements. It fits into the ongoing Where is the money? conversation—or more accurately, where the money isn’t (fair warning, it’s a bit sobering).
  
  We’ll keep sharing insights and data as we find them, helping to map out where funding might actually come from.

• Adoye Series (conversations with women in African philanthropy): This series was recorded on the sidelines of the African Women Writers retreat that took place at the Wits Rural Facility in Limpopo, South Africa, and hosted by CAPSI’s Adɔyɛ Programme and Nawi Afrifem Collective.
  
  Adɔyɛ is dedicated to celebrating and amplifying the contributions of African women in philanthropy while creating spaces for dialogue, learning and collaboration.  

• Building Indigenous Power on a Global Stage: This article highlights the importance of the recent International Funders of Indigenous Peoples convening in Naivasha, Kenya.
  
  As custodians of 80% of the planet’s biodiversity, Indigenous Peoples possess valuable knowledge, expertise and practice of managing resources in ways that honor the interconnectedness of our lives and the importance of community-centered, and sustainable practices.  However, they only receive a paucity of funding.  What can we learn from the ways that Indigenous social movements are structured and resourced?

Thanks for reading!
Sign up for future newsletters here.