As part of our strategy refresh, Civitates commissioned a study to better understand the funding landscape for civil society organisations working to protect and advance civic space in the EU. It aimed to identify which countries, groups or kinds of activities to defend civic space, are receiving the most and least funding. The mapping looked at private foundations as well as public donors, such as the EU’s Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV) programme. The study by James Logan confirmed major changes and disruptions to funding, which included a number of donors changing priorities. The impact of this on the sector is likely to be significant, with one key private donor potentially leaving it altogether. The study also revealed an absence of actionable data tracking what is being funded and by whom in this space.
This makes it difficult to understand precisely the levels of funding going to different geographies, activities and types of organisation, in a way that can help identify gaps and refine strategies. There is also a need for greater coordination and cooperation among donors, particularly between public donors and private foundations. Information sharing and cooperation largely seem to happen on an ad hoc basis. This means that learning and analysis is not shared in a way that would help develop the field of civic space grant making generally. Interestingly, this was a need identified not only by funders but also by civil society.
The report includes several recommendations for donors, including:
- To expand spaces for sharing and coordination, especially among public and private donors.
- To find ways to map, track and analyse funding data (to defend and advance civic space and democracy).
- To balance efforts that defend/protect civic space (reactive) with efforts that open/expand civic space (proactive).
- To support civil society where threats to civic space are beginning to emerge and where there may be opportunities to prevent further deterioration, rather than limiting support to countries where civic space is in full crisis.
- To ensure that grantmaking practices reflect the strategies needed and the context in which civil society is operating and the resilience that they need to achieve success.
- To move to a form of partnership with civil society to better understand the impact of these practices but also the actions that are needed to advance civic space.
The full report is available here.
