Funding from the ground up – inside the Alianza Socioambiental Fondos del Sur’s member funds
Across the Global South, community-led efforts to defend territories, ecosystems and livelihoods have long driven socio-environmental justice, but remain chronically underfunded and overlooked by mainstream philanthropy and the broader climate and nature finance architecture. Rooted in Indigenous and local knowledge systems, collective organizing and political courage, these efforts have demonstrated time and again that lasting solutions to the social, climate and environmental crises of our time emerge from the ground up.
In response, there is a growing community of local, activist and movement-led funds disrupting conventional funding models by placing frontline communities and movement leaders at the centre of grantmaking, implementation and governance. These funds do more than distribute resources, they cultivate trust, strengthen capacities and act in solidarity with the people and movements they serve. The Alianza Socioambiental Fondos del Sur (Socio-Environmental Funds of the Global South) is a network created to amplify and support this ecosystem.
While some donors recognize the moral value and imperative of efficiently and fairly channeling resources directly to communities in the territories, as well as the importance of working with actors close to these communities as a funding strategy, there are still misconceptions and knowledge gaps about how to do it. This report aims to address some of these knowledge gaps. Drawing on a survey of all 16 member funds of the Alianza, it highlights the unique role of local activist funds from the Global South, detailing aspects of their governance structures and operational models, as well as their grantmaking approaches. The report shows why investing in the local and activist funding architecture is not only a moral imperative, but a strategic one.
Published by: Alianza Socioambiental Fondos del Sur
Published: November 2025
Download: Funding from the ground up – inside the Alianza Socioambiental Fondos del Sur’s member funds
AAAJC welcomes this report and strongly supports the emphasis on community‑led funding models. As a grassroots organization in Mozambique, we see daily how local knowledge and collective organizing are key to building resilience and advancing socio‑environmental justice.