With global changes taking place around the social, political and environmental issues, and giving preferences of individuals and donor agencies, the sectors that attracted more funding over the years are bound to shift. The last two decades saw a huge amount of funding in the health sector, HIV/AIDS and related areas, and then gradually education, skill-building and livelihoods also came to the fore in terms of donor priorities.
Sectors attracting more funding
Climate Change:
As of today, the younger generations are leading the protests across the world on the climate change issue. From Greta’s movement, ‘Fridays for Future’ to the Madrid Climate Change Conference (COP 25) taking place as you read this (December 2019), action for climate change and global warming are taking the centre stage, expected to result in worldwide political action and following the market and sector orientation. One may expect funding and support to be directed towards addressing climate change and resultant social issues- social justice, indigenous populations, women and children, livelihoods, food security, etc.
This is expected to cut across the funding areas, and to be used as a lens to see whether programs in areas like health, socio-economic development, education, livelihoods, etc. are being proposed in an environmentally friendly and sustainable way.
Human Rights, Peace and conflict resolution:
Globally, peace, conflict resolution and refugee migration have been serious humanitarian issues and have attracted increased funding over the years. The report also acknowledges that the growth rate has been slow from 2017 to 2018, of only 1%. Data from various sources have shown that this upward trend is expected to continue and funding towards peace, conflict resolution, the migrant crisis and human rights is expected to increase from various sources.
Inclusion:
In order to be more inclusive and to support people who are under-represented, charities, governments and funding organizations are extending support and funding will also increase in such areas. Whether it is LGBT communities, survivors of violence, people affected by war and migration, people living in poverty or any other sidelined community/ ethnicities, people of colour, etc., efforts are being taken to ensure inclusion at all ends. Diversity and inclusion will also continue to be a key factor for organizations’ credibility perspective, depending on what policies they follow to ensure they themselves follow the values they claim to work for.
This funding trends to anticipate in 2020:
- Individual Giving;
- Increase in larger gifts;
- Intermediary bodies to empower donors and support non-profits;
- Impact investing and Sustainability;
- Strategic corporate giving;
- Operating Expenses;
