Grantees benefit from streamlined funding processes post-COVID, says research
Studies show post-pandemic improvements to grantee processes, CSOs call on the UN to show meaningful leadership on forced labour and human trafficking, and Laos becomes the first ASEAN member state to launch judicial guidelines on victim sensitivity.
Data analysis by The Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) has shown that nonprofit grantees now spend less time on application and reporting processes than before the COVID-19 pandemic, and find these newly streamlined proposal processes helpful in strengthening their efforts. The research also found that funders are providing slightly more unrestricted support than they were before the pandemic.
Furthermore, while some of the changes made by funders during the pandemic are consistent with past trends, the magnitude of the change is larger than previously seen. This finding suggests that the focus on nonprofit experience among funders in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic, and articulated in a pledge that many funders have signed, has catalyzed change beyond what is normally seen among foundations committed to obtaining and acting on grantee feedback.
The trend for unrestricted support is increasingly becoming a talking point within the anti-trafficking sector – trust-based philanthropy was discussed during the Funders’ Perspectives panel at the Asia Region Anti-Trafficking (ARAT) Conference in July, and Freedom Collaborative’s panel at the same event focused on the need for meaningful analysis of the sector’s processes and practices. Speakers observed that gaps in service provision and the complex results they bring about, sometimes due to a lack of understanding of on-the-ground realities by funders, can be tricky to communicate, which means that survivors’ needs often go unmet. Meanwhile, the Funder Safeguarding Collaborative (FSC) was set up by groups including Porticus and the Global Fund for Children, in part to promote a more equitable system that values and supports the power and knowledge within funded organizations and the communities they serve.
During the pandemic, CEP found that more than three quarters of funders had streamlined their processes to reduce the burden on grantees and provide more unrestricted support. The overwhelming majority – more than 90 per cent – intended to sustain at least some of those changes, according to CEP’s study of self-reported practices. Further research, carried out earlier this year, supported these results, showing that a majority of nonprofits reported increased trust from funders over the past year, as well as changes in specific practices.
CEP’s findings were further corroborated in its Grantee Perception Report (GPR), a comparative grantee survey process used by hundreds of foundations. A recent analysis showed that, while improvements have historically been made by funders that commit to obtaining consistent feedback, these changes were more pronounced than usual in the years following the pandemic. In aggregate, grantees of repeat GPR users reported spending 25 per cent less time on the proposal process during the pandemic than before, and fewer hours on reporting and evaluation.
Grantees similarly corroborated foundations’ self-reporting on the receipt of unrestricted support. In 2021, slightly more than 60 per cent of foundation leaders in the CEP study reported that their foundation was providing a higher percentage of unrestricted grant dollars compared to pre-pandemic giving levels. Of these, almost two thirds said they planned to continue at these higher levels in the future. In the GPR, the average proportion of grantees receiving general operating support (GOS) increased from 23 per cent to 30 per cent after 2020. And, according to grantees, 67 per cent of funders for which CEP had pre- and pandemic era data were providing a higher proportion of unrestricted support than before 2020.
CEP concludes that the events of 2020 shifted funders’ practices, making them increasingly motivated to support nonprofits in ways that are more sensitive to those organizations’ needs. However, there are still open questions on the shifting practices of grantmakers that are not answered in this analysis, and it will take years to fully understand the degree to which 2020 was a watershed year for philanthropic practices, and whether it constituted the beginning of an enduring change in how foundations and other funders do their work, the authors say.
Here’s a round-up of other noteworthy news and initiatives:
More than 70 civil society organizations from the anti-trafficking and forced labour sector have signed an open letter to the UN, after the SDG Summit drew to a close without a commitment to specifically combating forced labour, human trafficking and the worst forms of child labour – as outlined in SDG Target 8.7. The letter laments the lack of “meaningful global leadership on this issue”, and calls on member states to reaffirm their commitment to the full, effective and meaningful implementation of SDG 8.7.
A new report by the University of Nottingham’s Rights Lab, the Federal University of Pernambuco, and The Freedom Fund sheds light on the challenges faced by survivors of commercial sexual exploitation of children and adolescents (CSEC) in Brazil. The report, based on national data from 2019 to 2020 and interviews with survivors and experts, highlights the urgent need to improve support services, enhance policy implementation, and address harmful norms perpetuating CSEC in the country.
Twelve civil society organizations and networks have published a joint position on the proposed EU Directive on combating violence against women. The organizations welcome the proposal and make ten recommendations for the inter-institutional negotiations in several areas, including intersectional discrimination, access to justice, and victim support.
An investigative journalism piece recently uncovered evidence that migrant teens arriving at the U.S. border are being exploited by hiring agencies in the seafood processing sector as a source of cheap labour. The Labor Department has stated that enforcing child labour laws requires holding both staffing agencies and the companies where they place workers accountable.
According to a news investigation, an Ethiopian Government Facebook campaign, ostensibly aimed at providing employment opportunities for migrant workers in Saudi Arabia, is enabling a cycle of human trafficking, forced labour, and exploitation. The program, which promised safe and steady jobs, has left countless Ethiopian women vulnerable to abuse and perilous working conditions in the oil-rich kingdom.
Laos has become the first ASEAN member state to develop official guidelines on rights and protections for victims of trafficking in persons who participate in criminal proceedings. Drafted with help from ASEAN-ACT, the guidelines are designed to support victims throughout the court process, uphold their rights, and promote victim-sensitive principles. It is hoped that more victims will now be willing to cooperate with authorities, increasing the likelihood of securing justice.
The second ASEAN regional Work Plan Against Trafficking in Persons has been published, with the aim of aligning and coordinating ASEAN and national level efforts to effectively prevent TIP, protect and support victims, enforce trafficking and related laws, prosecute offenders, and enhance regional and international cooperation in countering TIP. The Work Plan is designed to serve as a roadmap that helps ASEAN member states work in a coordinated manner towards the alignment of their respective laws, policies and practices.
And ASEAN has published an animation on its website and YouTube channel to help explain the ASEAN Convention against Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children (ACTIP).
The Seafood Task Force (STF) is seeking Requests for Proposals from a qualified team to develop a project plan for the establishment of an effective grievance mechanism for tuna fisherman that can be scaled for global application. The successful team will work with STF, utilizing its extensive set of policy and procedure guidance tools, based on an agreed Code of Conduct. The official closing date is 18 October, but STF invites applicants to reach out if they need more time.
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