Participatory Grantmaking as Trust-Based Philanthropy: the Case of FundAction

In recent years, more and more funds and organizations have been experimenting with trust-based philanthropy, where decision-making power is shared between funders and the communities and activists they support. The case of FundAction shows how trust can be structured and practiced daily: from participatory decision-making to conflict management. This article explores how a participatory, care-oriented approach can reshape the role of philanthropy in society.

Questo articolo è parte del Focus Filantropia e Fiducia, spazio online curato da Secondo Welfare che raccoglie riflessioni, interviste e ricerche sulla filantropia trust-based e sull’impatto che potrebbe avere nel nostro Paese.

Introducing FundAction: A Participatory Approach to Philanthropy

At its core, trust-based philanthropy is a concept that aims to shift power among funders and grantees by reflecting on who gets to have the benefit of the doubt in this type of relationship dynamic and why. At FundAction, we believe that both parties should be able to enjoy the trust of the other and we make this possible in a number of ways – all of which are outlined in this piece.

FundAction is an activist-led participatory grantmaking fund, which was launched in 2017 by people coming from grassroots activism and philanthropy. The fund’s mission is to shift decision-making power over funding from funders to affected communities and activists working on the frontlines. At the core of FundAction’s DNA is the unique role of activists and the practice of participatory grantmaking. To this end, we bring together a community of grassroots activists that have until now comprised 26 countries located mostly on the European continent – all of whom work on systemic change. Together, this community decides what gets funded, how we govern ourselves, how we transform conflicts and learn from one another. 

As an ultimate goal, FundAction envisions a just and equitable world and a healthy planet, where both philanthropy and social movements become redundant. And trust is the key ingredient to getting us there. Building trust is a constant commitment and practice by the funders and grassroots activists that make up our fund. Some of the ways we practice this are: building community, fostering participation, practicing our values and leading with care. Below are outlined each of these aspects separately. However, it is important to keep in mind that these four aspects of how we build trust within FundAction are interconnected and exist together as a whole.

Building Trust through Community Building

Community building is a key component of building trust within the FundAction community. Given that our community is made up of both grassroots activists as well as funders, efforts to connect with one another allow for a better understanding of what contexts FundAction activists are operating in, what challenges they are facing and what the grants they receive through the fund help them achieve. These moments of connection are also what has fostered collaboration among FundAction activists in the past and continues to foster collaboration today. 

Opportunities for meetings take place each year through an in-person annual assembly where decisions about the most pressing aspects of our work take place, including grantmaking, fundraising, governance, etc. Given that we are mostly a virtual community, a number of events also take place online throughout the year with the aim of connecting, learning and exchanging among ourselves. Funders have a unique opportunity to take part in all community building events and be part of the community (albeit without the right to vote), learning firsthand from activists working in their local contexts and through larger networks to bring about systemic change. This kind of direct engagement among activists and funders in all aspects of the grantmaking process allows all parties involved to see the faces behind the work and behind the funding that supports aspects of that work. This leads to more trust than is often possible through mere written proposals, reports or specifically curated short-term events.

Participation as a Path to Trust

Participation is a central tenet of FundAction and how we ensure that our grantmaking is rooted in what our members decide collectively to fund. Although many funders today refer to themselves as participatory grantmakers (PGM), it is rare to find a fund that practices PGM in quite the way that FundAction does. The FundAction Community Guidelines – a document outlining guidelines developed by FundAction members throughout the past 10 years of the fund’s existence – is a testament to our commitment to participation in all areas of our work. We see participation not only as something integral to moments of grantmaking but also in the design of participatory grant processes and the subsequent participation of our members in deciding which proposals receive funds, in the design and hiring of members of our governance organs, in the opportunities for our members to take part in working groups and make decisions around what tasks to take up for each area of our work at FundAction. Even the way we fundraise and where we receive funding from is decided by our community of activists! 

All of these components of participation contribute to a great trust in processes that we develop and engage in as a fund, which is equally important for trust within philanthropy. The trust that FundAction members have in our participatory processes allows for an openness and sincerity in suggesting improvements to those processes, engaging in debates and sharing perspectives without fear of retribution.

Walking the Talk: How Practicing Values Fosters Mutual Trust

Mutual trust is one of the values FundAction upholds as a fund. Practicing our values – which, among others, include democracy, inclusivity, openness, transparency, autonomy, honesty, equality and justice – is another important way that we build trust within FundAction. We are disrupting trust within philanthropy to mean that we are not only perceiving “beneficiaries” of grants as the ones upon whom the responsibility of being trustworthy lies, but rather that the processes by which grantees receive funds itself are trustworthy. For this to happen, the rotating leadership within FundAction, which is made up of activists from within our community, ensures that opportunities for members to participate in all processes are inclusive, open and accessible at all times. 

Communication is also key to building trust. This is why the Facilitation Group, which is the main organ tasked with the daily operations of the fund and therefore the most knowledgeable with regards to the most up to date information on the fund’s processes, maintains open, honest and transparent communication with our community, including funders. We do this through bi-weekly newsletters, a Signal group, FundAction’s online assembly (via the decidim platform) and other communication channels.

Care in Action: Transforming Crises into Trust

Finally, care is something that has been an important component of how we operate as a fund over the past few years since an internal crisis threatened to stall our work indefinitely. In 2023 and 2024, we took several months to reflect, to learn and to build structures in consultation with our community that would allow for FundAction to become a more caring, feminist, anti-oppressive and sustainable fund. In the process, we developed the FundAction Protocol for Conflict Prevention & Transformation, which defines guidelines for prevention of conflicts before they escalate, in addition to providing guidance on ways to transform conflicts should they arise within the FundAction community. This work on developing and implementing care processes within the fund contributed greatly to our community’s renewal of trust both among members as well as toward FundAction at a moment where trust had been breached due to lack of care infrastructure that ultimately led to an internal crisis. 

Of course, an internal crisis is a serious concern not only for the organization going through such a crisis but also for the funders supporting that organization. In this sense, the support that we received from our donors during this moment of slowing down to reflect and address the crisis we were facing in 2023 was a great example of trust-based philanthropy in practice. In fact, this trust contributed greatly to FundAction being able to bounce back from a difficult moment to the moment of thriving that we find ourselves in currently in 2026!

Shifting Power, Building Trust: Lessons from FundAction

A commitment we have at FundAction is to take accountability in transforming individual power into collective power so that we continue to shift power relations within philanthropy and beyond. As demonstrated in this piece, trust is a necessary component of transforming and shifting power relations within philanthropy. We must all do our part to challenge business as usual within not only philanthropy but all systems where injustice and inequity make life unlivable for the majority, while benefitting the pockets of a few.