From Control to Trust: Rethinking How Philanthropy Funds Change

​Philanthropy has the power to enable transformative change—but too often, funding structures reinforce control, fragmentation, and short-term impact. While the sector increasingly speaks about trust, equity, and systems change, much of today’s funding architecture still falls short: restricted grants, heavy reporting requirements, and decision-making far removed from the communities closest to the work.

This discussion explores what it would take to truly shift toward trust-based philanthropy—where flexible, multi-year funding, South-led decision-making, and long-term partnerships are the norm rather than the exception. What are the enabling conditions that allow these approaches to succeed, and what barriers continue to hold them back?

Grounded in real examples of funder–community partnerships, this session invites participants to move beyond critique toward co-creation. Together, we will begin to articulate a set of Trust-Based Funding Principles and explore how funders can collaborate more effectively to resource the systems that sustain impact—not just the outcomes that measure it.

Speakers

• ​Kate Thomson is Vice Chair of the Robert Carr Fund, with decades of leadership advancing community-led and equitable global health.

• ​Laura Garcia is CEO and President of Global Greengrants Fund, advancing human rights, gender equality, and grassroots philanthropy.

• ​Patricia Isabella Essel is Senior Advisor for Programs at WomenStrong International, leading gender-transformative approaches and global capacity strengthening.

• ​Wende Valentine is Executive Director of dZi Foundation, supporting community-centred development and systems change in Nepal.

• ​Marieme Daff is Executive Director of Firelight Foundation, advancing community-driven development and locally led organisations across Africa.

• ​Valeria Scorza is CEO of Fundación Avina, advancing collaborative solutions for sustainable development across Latin America.

​Discussion Questions
What concrete shifts are required for philanthropy to move from control to trust in how it funds and partners?
What are the biggest barriers—structural, cultural, or practical—to adopting flexible, long-term, trust-based funding?
What does it look like in practice to shift power and resources to grassroots and community-led organisations while maintaining accountability?
If we were to design funding systems around trust and equity, what would we do differently—starting now?