Trust-based Philanthropy: rebalancing power toward grantees

What is trust-based philanthropy?

Trust-based philanthropy is a funding approach that deliberately shifts power toward grantees. In practice it means giving multi-year, unrestricted funding, simplifying applications and reporting, and treating grantees as trusted partners rather than subjects to be monitored.

It grew as a response to a traditional dynamic where funders held most of the power and grantees spent disproportionate effort proving themselves. The core idea is that organisations closest to a problem are best placed to decide how to solve it.

‍

What does it change in practice?

Concretely, it changes the mechanics of funding. Reporting becomes lighter and more conversational; due diligence is streamlined; and funding is more often general operating support rather than tightly restricted project money, given over several years rather than one cycle.

The aim is to reduce the administrative load on grantees and let them focus on the work, while the funder takes on more of the responsibility for building a trusting relationship.

‍

How is it different from participatory grantmaking?

The two are allied but distinct, and easy to conflate. Trust-based philanthropy is about how a funder treats grantees once it decides to fund them, lighter control, more trust. Participatory grantmaking is about who makes the funding decision in the first place, sharing that decision with the communities affected.

One reforms the relationship after the decision; the other reforms the decision itself. A funder can adopt either independently, though they often travel together as part of a broader rethink of power in philanthropy.

‍

Supporting a trust-based approach in a platform

Lighter reporting does not mean no reporting, it means smarter, less burdensome data capture. A grant management platform can streamline grantee reporting so a funder honours trust-based principles while still understanding its impact, within its wider grantmaking.