A virtual gathering brought together voices from across Latin America to reflect on the region’s philanthropic future.

On April 23, Kuja Platform, an initiative by Adeso, organized a webinar addressing the current challenges of philanthropy in Latin America, featuring key voices from the sector. Participants included Juliana Tinoco, Executive Coordinator of the Socio-Environmental Funds of the Global South | Alianza Fondos del Sur, along with representatives from two member funds, Juan Mira (Fondo Emerger – Colombia) and Facundo Ibarlucía (Red Comunidades Rurales – Argentina), as well as Jonathas Azevedo, Executive Director of Rede Comuá (Brazil).

In a time of profound transformations in international cooperation financing, this webinar aimed to initiate an urgent conversation about the present and future of philanthropy in Latin America. The closure of the Inter-American Foundation (IAF) and the near-total withdrawal of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) have highlighted the fragility of traditional cooperation models and the need to build new ways to sustain community work.

Throughout the meeting, participants outlined a critical yet hopeful panorama, emphasizing the urgent need to transform the philanthropic system by recognizing the prominence of local solutions and advocating for a real redistribution of power.

The Critical Context of Philanthropy in Latin America

Juan Mira opened the webinar by providing a historical perspective on the successive crises of international cooperation and how these have shaped the field of civil society in recent decades. Drawing from his experience, he highlighted that, although the current crisis is severe, it is not unprecedented, mentioning moments such as post-Rio 92 and the early 2000s, when significant changes in funding flows demanded reinvention and articulation. For him, we are now facing the exhaustion of a centralizing model, which requires recognizing new actors, rethinking modes of operation, and strengthening collective platforms.

Fondo Emerger team presenting the organization and the terms of the Amazonía Resiliente project call in Colombia. Photo: Fondo Emerger Archive.

“Did we need this crisis to act? Or can we seize it to reposition new actors?” he questioned. Juan also emphasized the importance of collective actions over individual ones to transform reality and context, promoting coordination and collaboration among organizations and ensuring the representation of diverse actors.

Facundo Ibarlucía highlighted the powerful collective effort of Latin American organizations in response to the abrupt interruption of international cooperation by the United States. Faced with contract suspensions and demands for resource returns, more than 160 organizations autonomously organized, sharing experiences, conducting diagnostics, mapping impacts, and creating joint responses that enable sustainability alternatives. A phrase from his intervention encapsulates the gravity of the scenario: “More than 60% of the surveyed organizations reported being at risk of disappearing due to contract cancellations.” His call was clear: it is urgent to build greater resilience in the Global South in the face of turbulences imposed by external decisions.

Juliana Tinoco and Jonathas Azevedo presented the Alianza and the Comuá Network as alternatives to traditional international cooperation financing models. They emphasized the importance of local and decolonial funds in addressing the climate crisis and inequality, stressing the need for philanthropy based on solidarity and deep listening to communities. Both underscored the importance of prioritizing historically marginalized groups and strengthening the autonomy of civil society organizations.

Seminars for rural communities, organized by the Banco de Proyectos Comunitarios Rurales (BPCR) of Red Comunidades Rurales, foster active participation and collective learning.

Juliana Tinoco proposed a profound reflection on the current moment. For her, the crisis we are experiencing is not only financial or climatic but also political, value-based, and imaginative. Juliana highlighted how, in Latin America, neoliberalism weakened community solidarity practices and suggested recovering ancestral philosophies like "buen vivir" to face the current crisis. She pointed out that, even in the face of climate urgency, international philanthropy continues to reproduce colonial logics, with centralized power structures, scarce direct resource transfers, and a relationship often evidencing a lack of trust.

In response, she highlighted the transformative role of local funds, which reverse this logic by acting closely, listening to and understanding the demands emerging from territories, reducing and adapting bureaucracy to local realities, and offering technical, political, and financial support in local currency. “The solution to the funding gap will not come solely with more money; it will come with a new way of doing philanthropy,” she affirmed, calling on global foundations and international cooperation to commit to a true redistribution of power.

Jonathas Azevedo provided the Brazilian perspective from Rede Comuá, emphasizing how local funds emerged in response to the withdrawal of international cooperation and the absence of a structured national philanthropy supporting civil society. He noted that these funds are strategic, as they not only channel resources but also strengthen community autonomy and act swiftly in crises.

As an example, he mentioned the work of Fundo Casa Socioambiental with indigenous and community brigades during forest fires in Brazil. “These funds not only make resources viable but propose new foundations for a cooperation system that truly centers the communities and groups we work with in Brazil,” he affirmed, calling for collaboration and solidarity.

Jonathas Azevedo (Comuá Network) and Juliana Tinoco (Alianza Fondos del Sur) at an official COP29 event, highlighting the urgency of mobilizing resources toward locally-led solutions. Photo: Green Africa Youth Organization.

Collective Responses for a Fairer Future

The meeting reaffirmed the essential role of local funds and socio-environmental justice philanthropy as collective responses deeply rooted in territories. Collaborative networks, such as the Alliance and Rede Comuá, demonstrate that it is possible to build alternative financing infrastructures based on trust, respect for peoples' autonomy, and the transformative power of collective action.

Dialogue spaces like this webinar are fundamental for exchanging experiences, strengthening alliances, and advancing toward more democratic, transparent, and effective philanthropy.

We invite you to explore these additional resources from participating organizations and share them with organizations and colleagues who may benefit from them:

• "Voices of the South" publication by the Socio-Environmental Funds of the Global South: https://alianzafondosdelsur.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Voices-of-the-South_2024-Edition.pdf  

• Newsletter of the Socio-Environmental Funds of the Global South:  https://mailchi.mp/04b4af5e3c6e/subscribe-to-our-newsletter 

• Blogs from Comuá Network:https://redecomua.org.br/en/blog/ 

• Blog from Fundo Casa Socioambiental on Indigenous and community brigades during forest fires in Brazil (in Portuguese):https://casa.org.br/en/community-brigades-the-frontline-against-forest-fires-in-brazil/ 

"The Crisis Coordination Playbook" guide in English, created by the Human Rights Funders Network (HRFN) and Peace and Security Funders Group in consultation with 40 foundations and social movements, offering new responses to mobilize resources toward those on the front lines of crises and the shrinking civic space: https://www.hrfn.org/better-preparedness/

Preliminary results of the survey on the impact of the IAF's closure and USAID's cuts on local organizations in the region, presented by Facundo Ibarlucía (Red Comunidades Rurales):

• Monitoring dashboard on the impact of U.S. funding cuts on the work of 162 surveyed community organizations: https://lookerstudio.google.com/u/0/reporting/b6a9ab0c-6343-4fce-8674-9f36c5828080

• Timeline showing how community organizations coordinated actions in response to U.S. measures since January: https://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/timeline3/latest/embed/index.html?source=v2:2PACX-1vTk07t82MNyCqhSkOGPvnreYZnPXjocbygYDT1yZleYBppFqnrsSjBihZYpLG2z5mLYO7xWJjoi9Bpb&font=Default&lang=en&initial_zoom=2&height=650