18%
Share of foundation
human rights funding
$414.2 Million out of
$2.3 Billion for all rights
1,287 Grants
Top Foundation Funders
- Nationale Postcode Loterij $160.6 M
- Open Society Foundations $45.6 M
- Ford Foundation $34.0 M
- The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation $25.8 M
- The Oak Foundation $14.2 M
- Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation $13.6 M
- Freedom House $10.2 M
- The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation $10.1 M
- The Sigrid Rausing Trust $9.7 M
- American Jewish World Service $7.5 M
- The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation $7.3 M
- Open Doors International $6.4 M
- Cordaid $4.5 M
- The Pershing Square Foundation $4.2 M
- Foundation For The Carolinas $4.1 M
- The Atlantic Philanthropies $4.0 M
- Hivos $3.6 M
- ExxonMobil Foundation $3.0 M
- Bloomberg Philanthropies $2.8 M
- Humanity United $2.6 M
- The Christensen Fund $2.4 M
- Foundation for a Just Society $2.0 M
- Silicon Valley Community Foundation $1.8 M
- Omidyar Network Fund $1.6 M
- Arthur S. DeMoss Foundation $1.6 M
- M = Millions
Bilateral and Multilateral Funding
19%
Share of OECD
human rights funding
$709.5 Million out of
$3.7 Billion for all rights
1,429 Disbursements
Top Funders
- Sweden $133.2 M
- Norway $101.7 M
- Switzerland $99.4 M
- Netherlands $72.0 M
- United States $65.5 M
- Denmark $37.0 M
- Finland $26.1 M
- Germany $24.8 M
- United Kingdom $21.3 M
- France $16.7 M
- Spain $14.4 M
- European Union Institutions $13.7 M
- Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) $13.7 M
- Australia $13.6 M
- Belgium $12.5 M
- Japan $9.2 M
- Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) $7.8 M
- Ireland $7.4 M
- Canada $6.9 M
- Italy $6.2 M
- United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) $1.9 M
- Iceland $1.1 M
- Luxembourg $626.3 K
- United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) $610.7 K
- United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) $595.6 K
- M = Millions
Foundation Funding by Issue
Human Rights, General
$136,357,891 (33%)
233 Grants (18%)Equality Rights and Freedom from Discrimination
$47,891,432 (12%)
180 Grants (14%)Sexual and Reproductive Rights
$47,282,035 (11%)
85 Grants (7%)Health and Well-being Rights
$40,112,384 (10%)
130 Grants (10%)Freedom from Violence
$24,471,587 (6%)
144 Grants (11%)Environmental and Resource Rights
$22,220,632 (5%)
107 Grants (8%)Expression and Information Rights
$20,471,495 (5%)
107 Grants (8%)Civic and Political Participation
$14,708,974 (4%)
34 Grants (3%)Migration and Displacement
$12,674,383 (3%)
52 Grants (4%)Economic and Labor Rights
$10,111,451 (2%)
44 Grants (3%)Transitional Justice and Peacebuilding
$10,023,964 (2%)
45 Grants (3%)Access to Justice/Equality Before the Law
$9,857,817 (2%)
61 Grants (5%)
Issue totals include foundation funding that could be identified as meant to address a specific issue. In order to provide unique totals and avoid double-counting, each foundation grant has been assigned to exactly one issue category within the human rights taxonomy.
Foundation Funding by Population
Women & Girls
$78,526,747 (19%)
291 Grants (23%)Children & Youth
$51,758,973 (12%)
144 Grants (11%)Migrants & Refugees
$25,191,235 (6%)
125 Grants (10%)Indigenous Peoples
$12,670,703 (3%)
95 Grants (7%)LGBTQI
$5,917,012 (1%)
51 Grants (4%)Human Rights Defenders
$3,457,190 (1%)
12 Grants (1%)People with Disabilities
$2,341,831 (1%)
18 Grants (1%)Sex Workers
$445,011 (0%)
4 Grants (0%)
Population totals include foundation funding that could be identified as meant to benefit a specific group. Grants may serve multiple populations and would therefore be counted in more than one category.
Foundation Funding by Strategy
Advocacy, Systems Reform and Implementation
$64,548,134 (16%)
314 Grants (24%)Media and Technology
$40,637,068 (10%)
213 Grants (17%)Research and Documentation
$36,112,530 (9%)
167 Grants (13%)Coalition-building and Collaboration
$21,572,089 (5%)
111 Grants (9%)Capacity-building and Technical Assistance
$19,901,848 (5%)
115 Grants (9%)Arts and Culture
$10,039,998 (2%)
72 Grants (6%)Public Engagement and Awareness-raising
$7,921,303 (2%)
53 Grants (4%)Litigation and Legal Aid
$2,887,116 (1%)
15 Grants (1%)Security and Resilience
$2,627,800 (1%)
8 Grants (1%)Grassroots Organizing
$1,524,929 (0%)
19 Grants (1%)Scholarships and Travel
$404,608 (0%)
18 Grants (1%)
Strategy totals include foundation funding that could be identified as supporting a specific strategy. Grants may employ multiple strategies and would therefore be counted in more than one category.
Sample Grants
-
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
National Security Archive Fund (United States)
For work on international human rights and nuclear security. -
Tamalpais Trust
Tebtebba (Philippines)
For its work to promote Indigenous cultural lifeways, traditional knowledge and Indigenous rights.
Related Resources
Bilateral and multilateral funding includes disbursements not directed toward a specific country or region (designated in the OECD data set as “Bilateral, unspecified”). This includes disbursements providing a global benefit or used to cover the donor’s administrative costs.
65 Grants (5%)