#ShiftThePower
@shiftthepower.bsky.social
We are a movement of people and organizations working to tip the balance of power in the development sector and the international aid system https://shiftthepower.org
In Serbia alternative resources mobilised within community have gone to supporting student movements. It has also nudged a rethinking of what civil society should look and the realisation that sometimes external resources undermine the local legitimacy of such movements.
#ShiftThePower
#ShiftThePower
October 30, 2025 at 10:22 AM
In Serbia alternative resources mobilised within community have gone to supporting student movements. It has also nudged a rethinking of what civil society should look and the realisation that sometimes external resources undermine the local legitimacy of such movements.
#ShiftThePower
#ShiftThePower
Nour Nussseibeh in Palestine shares that Dalia Association has been working (in communities) for more than 20 years. It starts with organizing community resources that exist locally and external philanthropy is complementary.
#ShiftThePower
#ShiftThePower
October 30, 2025 at 10:14 AM
Nour Nussseibeh in Palestine shares that Dalia Association has been working (in communities) for more than 20 years. It starts with organizing community resources that exist locally and external philanthropy is complementary.
#ShiftThePower
#ShiftThePower
Starting now: A conversation on alternative civil society resources that exist within communities and not just beyond and outside. We will shine a light on examples from Serbia, Palestine, India and Indonesia.
#ShiftThePower
#ShiftThePower
October 30, 2025 at 10:14 AM
Starting now: A conversation on alternative civil society resources that exist within communities and not just beyond and outside. We will shine a light on examples from Serbia, Palestine, India and Indonesia.
#ShiftThePower
#ShiftThePower
In this blog on who is funding the arts in the Global South, Twasiima Bigirwa, a development expert turned writer gets into why there is something about the term “self-published” that erases the local funding communities pour into the literary arts shiftthepower.org/2025/09/18/w...
#ShiftThePower
#ShiftThePower
Who is funding the arts in the Global South?
There is something about this term “self-published” that downplays the local funding provided by communities in supporting the literary arts.
shiftthepower.org
September 18, 2025 at 2:10 PM
In this blog on who is funding the arts in the Global South, Twasiima Bigirwa, a development expert turned writer gets into why there is something about the term “self-published” that erases the local funding communities pour into the literary arts shiftthepower.org/2025/09/18/w...
#ShiftThePower
#ShiftThePower
Funders assume 💰 is what movements need most but movements have always found ways to self-resource. So how should funders engage with things that can exist with or without their support? Here is the case for messy/vital movement building as real power shiftthepower.org/2025/08/22/a... #ShiftThePower
A case for movement building as community power
Movements have existed and have been organising long before “funding” and will continue to do so.
shiftthepower.org
September 3, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Funders assume 💰 is what movements need most but movements have always found ways to self-resource. So how should funders engage with things that can exist with or without their support? Here is the case for messy/vital movement building as real power shiftthepower.org/2025/08/22/a... #ShiftThePower
When Shila & Nish of Freedom Studio (Nepal) visited the Nebraska Community Foundation, they saw big differences & surprising similarities. Nebraska’s community philanthropy models offered new inspiration for Nepal, especially as global aid shrinks shiftthepower.org/2025/08/20/f...
#ShiftThePower
#ShiftThePower
August 27, 2025 at 9:17 AM
When Shila & Nish of Freedom Studio (Nepal) visited the Nebraska Community Foundation, they saw big differences & surprising similarities. Nebraska’s community philanthropy models offered new inspiration for Nepal, especially as global aid shrinks shiftthepower.org/2025/08/20/f...
#ShiftThePower
#ShiftThePower
Reposted by #ShiftThePower
An important reminder not to reduce civil society to NGOs.
What happens when NGOs shut down, donors walk away & the reports stop printing? Movements don’t die — they shapeshift. History shows that mutual aid & stubborn resistance kept civil society and movements alive long before donor funding shiftthepower.org/2025/08/21/b...
#ShiftThePower
#ShiftThePower
Beyond NGOs: Why civil society will survive and thrive
What happens when the NGO offices shut down, the donors walk away and the annual reports stop printing? If history and current events are any guide, civil society does not die. It simply changes form.
shiftthepower.org
August 21, 2025 at 2:15 PM
An important reminder not to reduce civil society to NGOs.
What happens when NGOs shut down, donors walk away & the reports stop printing? Movements don’t die — they shapeshift. History shows that mutual aid & stubborn resistance kept civil society and movements alive long before donor funding shiftthepower.org/2025/08/21/b...
#ShiftThePower
#ShiftThePower
Beyond NGOs: Why civil society will survive and thrive
What happens when the NGO offices shut down, the donors walk away and the annual reports stop printing? If history and current events are any guide, civil society does not die. It simply changes form.
shiftthepower.org
August 21, 2025 at 1:41 PM
What happens when NGOs shut down, donors walk away & the reports stop printing? Movements don’t die — they shapeshift. History shows that mutual aid & stubborn resistance kept civil society and movements alive long before donor funding shiftthepower.org/2025/08/21/b...
#ShiftThePower
#ShiftThePower
Feeling dissatisfied with a measurement tool that ignored the non-linear path of children learning art, FacesUp set out to create an alternative measurement tool to define success by the richness of learning art, and not a "defined set target." shiftthepower.org/2025/08/13/a...
#ShiftThePower
#ShiftThePower
A measurement tool not defined by targets
With this method, there is never a final destination we seek to reach – but the journey is everything. We seek continuous improvement, and not a defined “perfect” target.
shiftthepower.org
August 13, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Feeling dissatisfied with a measurement tool that ignored the non-linear path of children learning art, FacesUp set out to create an alternative measurement tool to define success by the richness of learning art, and not a "defined set target." shiftthepower.org/2025/08/13/a...
#ShiftThePower
#ShiftThePower
Why does wisdom from the Global South still wait for a Northern seal of approval before it goes mainstream? Because the platforms for debate/thought leadership are still Northern "owned." Join us for the launch of the Global South House on 30th July globalfundcommunityfoundations.org/news/launch-...
Join the launch of The Global South House on 30 July - GFCF : GFCF
The GFCF is a grassroots grantmaker working to promote and support institutions of community philanthropy around the world.
globalfundcommunityfoundations.org
July 23, 2025 at 11:36 AM
Why does wisdom from the Global South still wait for a Northern seal of approval before it goes mainstream? Because the platforms for debate/thought leadership are still Northern "owned." Join us for the launch of the Global South House on 30th July globalfundcommunityfoundations.org/news/launch-...
Born out of a powerful weaving of Global South orgs, the #GlobalSouthHouse is a space by & for the South's political articulation, mobilization, & knowledge production for dev't
The weaving has already begun. Join us on 🗓️ 30th July to be part of it shiftthepower.org/event/offici...
#ShiftThePower
The weaving has already begun. Join us on 🗓️ 30th July to be part of it shiftthepower.org/event/offici...
#ShiftThePower
Official Launch of The Global South House
Born from the collaboration between Alianza Socioambiental Fondos del Sur and Rede Comuá, the Global South House is a bold platform, created by and for the Global South. It is dedicated to political a...
shiftthepower.org
July 14, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Born out of a powerful weaving of Global South orgs, the #GlobalSouthHouse is a space by & for the South's political articulation, mobilization, & knowledge production for dev't
The weaving has already begun. Join us on 🗓️ 30th July to be part of it shiftthepower.org/event/offici...
#ShiftThePower
The weaving has already begun. Join us on 🗓️ 30th July to be part of it shiftthepower.org/event/offici...
#ShiftThePower
Reposted by #ShiftThePower
"We do not want to create a culture of fear or compliance over genuine commitment to the communities that are underserved."
Reflections on 25 years of the Neelan Tiruchelvam Trust & its ambition to be "more than just a grantmaker." #ShiftThePower
globalfundcommunityfoundations.org/blog/the-bal...
Reflections on 25 years of the Neelan Tiruchelvam Trust & its ambition to be "more than just a grantmaker." #ShiftThePower
globalfundcommunityfoundations.org/blog/the-bal...
The balancing act of being “More than just a Grantmaker” - GFCF : GFCF
The GFCF is a grassroots grantmaker working to promote and support institutions of community philanthropy around the world.
globalfundcommunityfoundations.org
July 7, 2025 at 8:50 AM
"We do not want to create a culture of fear or compliance over genuine commitment to the communities that are underserved."
Reflections on 25 years of the Neelan Tiruchelvam Trust & its ambition to be "more than just a grantmaker." #ShiftThePower
globalfundcommunityfoundations.org/blog/the-bal...
Reflections on 25 years of the Neelan Tiruchelvam Trust & its ambition to be "more than just a grantmaker." #ShiftThePower
globalfundcommunityfoundations.org/blog/the-bal...
Dear funders, not everything needs your ruler, highlighter or template. Movements are colouring outside the colouring book & making magic, & doing the work they need to do in complexity & messy organising. They are only be supported, not controlled shiftthepower.org/2025/07/03/c...
#ShiftThePower
#ShiftThePower
Colouring outside the colouring book: Seeing all the colours in enablement. Part 2
A funder recently told me how they do not work on ”identity politics.” I was confused by this because we both acknowledged that civil society is in crisis. Most especially, with the recent economic re...
shiftthepower.org
July 3, 2025 at 12:20 PM
Dear funders, not everything needs your ruler, highlighter or template. Movements are colouring outside the colouring book & making magic, & doing the work they need to do in complexity & messy organising. They are only be supported, not controlled shiftthepower.org/2025/07/03/c...
#ShiftThePower
#ShiftThePower
🚨 Gov'ts are weaponizing climate crises to ban protests, militarize resources, & criminalizing environmental defenders, but communities are pushing back with the local resources they have. 🌍 Join us for a critical 3-part series👇
🗓 June 9, 18 & 25.
🔗: climasolutions.org/climate-auth... #ShiftThePower
🗓 June 9, 18 & 25.
🔗: climasolutions.org/climate-auth... #ShiftThePower
June 3, 2025 at 7:56 AM
🚨 Gov'ts are weaponizing climate crises to ban protests, militarize resources, & criminalizing environmental defenders, but communities are pushing back with the local resources they have. 🌍 Join us for a critical 3-part series👇
🗓 June 9, 18 & 25.
🔗: climasolutions.org/climate-auth... #ShiftThePower
🗓 June 9, 18 & 25.
🔗: climasolutions.org/climate-auth... #ShiftThePower
Reposted by #ShiftThePower
Dumi Gatsha (they/them) is the first ever gender diverse parliamentary candidate in Botswana, a former facilitator of the #ShiftThePower UK Funders Collective and founder of Success Capital. Their new piece in @shiftthepower.bsky.social reckons with the future of philanthropy.
Colouring outside the colouring book: Seeking out the alternative systems for movement organizing.
No one ever claims to hold power within philanthropy. I have met countless people who are well paid, who hold positions of power and/or are backed by endowments. Many of these always refer to another ...
shiftthepower.org
May 15, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Dumi Gatsha (they/them) is the first ever gender diverse parliamentary candidate in Botswana, a former facilitator of the #ShiftThePower UK Funders Collective and founder of Success Capital. Their new piece in @shiftthepower.bsky.social reckons with the future of philanthropy.
Happy to joining the Alliance Magazine and #GivingForChange conversation on community philanthropy as a radical force beyond aid. 😃
#ShiftThePower
#ShiftThePower
May 13, 2025 at 12:07 PM
Happy to joining the Alliance Magazine and #GivingForChange conversation on community philanthropy as a radical force beyond aid. 😃
#ShiftThePower
#ShiftThePower
Civil society around the world is reimagining & building new systems. It's also saying "we don’t want to go back to what we had before the cuts, because that wasn’t a system designed by us or for us." Sign this to stand with CSOs www.standwithcivilsociety.org
#ShiftThePower @peacedirect.bsky.social
#ShiftThePower @peacedirect.bsky.social
May 6, 2025 at 10:07 AM
Civil society around the world is reimagining & building new systems. It's also saying "we don’t want to go back to what we had before the cuts, because that wasn’t a system designed by us or for us." Sign this to stand with CSOs www.standwithcivilsociety.org
#ShiftThePower @peacedirect.bsky.social
#ShiftThePower @peacedirect.bsky.social
🌍 Funding cuts are hitting hard, but local orgs are also building a new system rooted in mutual aid, community philanthropy and solidarity saying, "what we need now is not rescue, but recognition."
✍🏽 Sign this open letter to #StandWithCivilSociety
#ShiftThePower standwithcivilsociety.org
✍🏽 Sign this open letter to #StandWithCivilSociety
#ShiftThePower standwithcivilsociety.org
May 1, 2025 at 12:57 PM
🌍 Funding cuts are hitting hard, but local orgs are also building a new system rooted in mutual aid, community philanthropy and solidarity saying, "what we need now is not rescue, but recognition."
✍🏽 Sign this open letter to #StandWithCivilSociety
#ShiftThePower standwithcivilsociety.org
✍🏽 Sign this open letter to #StandWithCivilSociety
#ShiftThePower standwithcivilsociety.org
This reflection on alternative measurement gets into why the log frame often feels like an attempt to nail spaghetti to a wall — to force complex, relational, adaptive work into a linear accountability framework shiftthepower.org/2025/04/14/r... #ShiftThePower #MeasuringWhatMatters
Rethinking the Logframe: A Reflection on Power, Purpose, and Measurement
It’s striking how enduring the logframe has been. Perhaps because many organisations were smaller and more centralised then, adoption was easier. Or perhaps once embedded in donor systems, it was too ...
shiftthepower.org
April 15, 2025 at 6:56 PM
This reflection on alternative measurement gets into why the log frame often feels like an attempt to nail spaghetti to a wall — to force complex, relational, adaptive work into a linear accountability framework shiftthepower.org/2025/04/14/r... #ShiftThePower #MeasuringWhatMatters
Philanthropy didn’t understand what it was trying to fix shiftthepower.org/2025/04/02/p... They mistook what was unfamiliar for something broken... they encountered something mess and unpredictable, they assumed managing it was the same as improving it. So they built bureaucracies.
#ShiftThePower
#ShiftThePower
Philanthropy didn’t understand what it was trying to fix
Here’s what I’ve observed: the things we try to reform are rarely the ones that matter most. Reform tends to fixate on what can be measured, managed, and credited—where reformers still believe control is within reach—while quietly avoiding what they don’t understand, where control is harder to find.
shiftthepower.org
April 2, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Philanthropy didn’t understand what it was trying to fix shiftthepower.org/2025/04/02/p... They mistook what was unfamiliar for something broken... they encountered something mess and unpredictable, they assumed managing it was the same as improving it. So they built bureaucracies.
#ShiftThePower
#ShiftThePower
Reposted by #ShiftThePower
This is one of the most frustrating and infuriating practices. It feels like, unless you already know us, we don't want to know you.
We don't accept unsolicited proposals.
It's not the fault of any one foundation. It's a systemic issue.
We don't accept unsolicited proposals.
It's not the fault of any one foundation. It's a systemic issue.
A Poem: This is a no solicitation space.
"...The funders meant to say, “even though I am here, I am still inaccessible to you...”
Anonymously published under the Unmute Yourself Series shiftthepower.org/unmute-yours...
#ShiftThePower
"...The funders meant to say, “even though I am here, I am still inaccessible to you...”
Anonymously published under the Unmute Yourself Series shiftthepower.org/unmute-yours...
#ShiftThePower
March 26, 2025 at 3:23 PM
This is one of the most frustrating and infuriating practices. It feels like, unless you already know us, we don't want to know you.
We don't accept unsolicited proposals.
It's not the fault of any one foundation. It's a systemic issue.
We don't accept unsolicited proposals.
It's not the fault of any one foundation. It's a systemic issue.
Reposted by #ShiftThePower
Remarkable
A Poem: This is a no solicitation space.
"...The funders meant to say, “even though I am here, I am still inaccessible to you...”
Anonymously published under the Unmute Yourself Series shiftthepower.org/unmute-yours...
#ShiftThePower
"...The funders meant to say, “even though I am here, I am still inaccessible to you...”
Anonymously published under the Unmute Yourself Series shiftthepower.org/unmute-yours...
#ShiftThePower
March 26, 2025 at 9:27 AM
Remarkable
A Poem: This is a no solicitation space.
"...The funders meant to say, “even though I am here, I am still inaccessible to you...”
Anonymously published under the Unmute Yourself Series shiftthepower.org/unmute-yours...
#ShiftThePower
"...The funders meant to say, “even though I am here, I am still inaccessible to you...”
Anonymously published under the Unmute Yourself Series shiftthepower.org/unmute-yours...
#ShiftThePower
March 25, 2025 at 4:41 PM
A Poem: This is a no solicitation space.
"...The funders meant to say, “even though I am here, I am still inaccessible to you...”
Anonymously published under the Unmute Yourself Series shiftthepower.org/unmute-yours...
#ShiftThePower
"...The funders meant to say, “even though I am here, I am still inaccessible to you...”
Anonymously published under the Unmute Yourself Series shiftthepower.org/unmute-yours...
#ShiftThePower
Why is network weaving needed now? 🧶
The world is going through multiple changes and crises. In times like these, e need networks now - more than ever. Join this conversation on 27th March on building the networks we need for social healing
interactioninstitute.org/why-weave-ne...
#ShiftThePower
The world is going through multiple changes and crises. In times like these, e need networks now - more than ever. Join this conversation on 27th March on building the networks we need for social healing
interactioninstitute.org/why-weave-ne...
#ShiftThePower
Why Weave Networks Now? - Interaction Institute for Social Change
“Connections create value. The social era will reward those organizations that realize they don’t create value all by themselves. If the industrial era was about building things, the social era is ab...
interactioninstitute.org
March 25, 2025 at 7:28 AM
Why is network weaving needed now? 🧶
The world is going through multiple changes and crises. In times like these, e need networks now - more than ever. Join this conversation on 27th March on building the networks we need for social healing
interactioninstitute.org/why-weave-ne...
#ShiftThePower
The world is going through multiple changes and crises. In times like these, e need networks now - more than ever. Join this conversation on 27th March on building the networks we need for social healing
interactioninstitute.org/why-weave-ne...
#ShiftThePower
Reposted by #ShiftThePower
The GFCF's own @eshbankwesiga.bsky.social sat down with the Centre for Policy Analysis to discuss why now is the moment to get serious about nurturing local resources. #ShiftThePower
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMw1...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMw1...
Decolonising Philanthropy || A Podcast with Eshban Kwesiga
YouTube video by Centre for Policy Analysis (CEPA)
www.youtube.com
March 18, 2025 at 11:44 AM
The GFCF's own @eshbankwesiga.bsky.social sat down with the Centre for Policy Analysis to discuss why now is the moment to get serious about nurturing local resources. #ShiftThePower
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMw1...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMw1...