Core and Unrestricted Funding: Paying for What It Really Takes

​Event Description

Across the social sector, there is growing agreement that core, flexible, and long-term funding is essential for impact. Yet in practice, most funding still prioritizes restricted, project-based grants that fail to cover the real costs of delivering and sustaining change.

This session explores why funding the “unseen middle”—from operations and staffing to systems, safeguarding, and data—is more critical than ever. What does it take for organizations to plan strategically, respond to emerging challenges, and build durable impact when their core functions remain underfunded?

We will examine how true cost funding can become a shared language between funders and organizations, and how different funding models, including core and project-based approaches, can work together rather than in tension. The conversation will also explore how funders who already embrace flexible funding can help shift broader norms across the ecosystem.

Grounded in real-world experience and emerging research, this session will focus on how to move from acknowledgment to action, ensuring that funding structures support stronger, more resilient organizations, not just individual programs.

Speakers

• ​Felicia Wong is Fund Director at the Robert Carr Fund, advancing health equity through cross-sector partnerships and community engagement.

• ​Gwendoline Morel is International Partnerships and Philanthropy Manager at Doctors of the World / Médecins du Monde, advancing global health through strategic partnerships.

• ​Kruti Dalal is Director of Resource Mobilization and Communication at ARMMAN, advancing maternal and child health through partnerships and digital innovation.

• ​Monica Swai is Program Manager at the Livelihood Impact Fund, advancing systems that expand skills, capital, and opportunity.

• ​Jhoan Gracia is Director of Operations at Focus Central America Foundation, advancing grantmaking and support for Latin American organizations.

​Discussion Questions
Why does core and flexible funding remain the exception rather than the norm?
What are the real “middle costs” that organizations need to deliver impact effectively?
How can funders and nonprofits build a shared understanding of true cost funding?
Can core and project-based funding models work together, and what would that look like in practice?