Top Foundation Funders

1. Comic Relief UK $19.2 M
2. The Atlantic Philanthropies $16.7 M
3. Open Society Foundations $9.1 M
4. Esmee Fairbairn Foundation $7.1 M
5. Trust for London $6.3 M
6. The Oak Foundation $5.7 M
7. The Sigrid Rausing Trust $4.8 M
8. Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust $4.3 M
9. Human Dignity Foundation $3.2 M
10. Wikimedia Foundation $3.2 M
11. The Henry Smith Charity $3.1 M
12. Anonymous $2.6 M
13. American Jewish World Service $2.5 M
14. The Barrow Cadbury Trust $2.2 M
15. Unbound Philanthropy $2.1 M
16. Freedom House $1.4 M
17. The Pilgrim Trust $1.4 M
18. The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation $1.4 M
19. Paul Hamlyn Foundation $1.3 M
20. Nationale Postcode Loterij $1.3 M
21. Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (UK) $1.2 M
22. The Northern Rock Foundation $921.8 K
23. A B Charitable Trust $697.3 K
24. Bodossaki Foundation $517.4 K
25. The Nduna Foundation $500.0 K
26. M = Millions

Foundation Funding by Issue

• Equality Rights and Freedom from Discrimination

  $26,101,101 (24%)
  224 Grants (19%)

• Freedom from Violence

  $21,619,993 (20%)
  172 Grants (15%)

• Human Rights, General

  $14,288,295 (13%)
  217 Grants (19%)

• Health and Well-being Rights

  $13,263,689 (12%)
  120 Grants (10%)

• Migration and Displacement

  $10,978,176 (10%)
  122 Grants (11%)

• Expression and Information Rights

  $7,238,511 (7%)
  47 Grants (4%)

• Access to Justice/Equality Before the Law

  $4,451,006 (4%)
  78 Grants (7%)

• Economic and Labor Rights

  $3,949,026 (4%)
  52 Grants (5%)

• Education, religion, and culture

  $3,163,860 (3%)
  74 Grants (6%)

• Environmental and Resource Rights

  $2,769,746 (3%)
  28 Grants (2%)

• Sexual and Reproductive Rights

  $1,769,780 (2%)
  9 Grants (1%)

• Civic and Political Participation

  $380,751 (0%)
  6 Grants (1%)

• Transitional Justice and Peacebuilding

  $319,000 (0%)
  4 Grants (0%)

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

• Children & Youth

  $28,677,318 (26%)
  216 Grants (19%)

• Crime or Abuse Victims

  $25,511,097 (23%)
  218 Grants (19%)

• Economically Disadvantaged

  $25,312,414 (23%)
  185 Grants (16%)

• Migrants & Refugees

  $24,380,949 (22%)
  275 Grants (24%)

• Women & Girls

  $22,993,686 (21%)
  196 Grants (17%)

• Ethnic or Racial Minorities

  $16,981,221 (15%)
  255 Grants (22%)

• People with Disabilities

  $10,645,607 (10%)
  88 Grants (8%)

• Offenders & Ex-Offenders

  $5,740,527 (5%)
  86 Grants (7%)

• Substance Abusers

  $3,525,252 (3%)
  32 Grants (3%)

• LGBTQI

  $2,564,218 (2%)
  41 Grants (4%)

• Indigenous Peoples

  $874,342 (1%)
  7 Grants (1%)

• People with AIDS

  $872,123 (1%)
  11 Grants (1%)

• Human Rights Defenders

  $732,091 (1%)
  6 Grants (1%)

• Sex Workers

  $346,336 (0%)
  8 Grants (1%)

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.

Sample Grants

• Funder Atlantic Philanthropies
  Recipient Free Legal Advice Centres (Republic of Ireland)
  Description To improve access to justice for vulnerable people through advocating for policy reform and addressing unmet needs for legal advice.
• Funder Global Dialogue
  Recipient Equality and Diversity Forum (United Kingdom)
  Description To develop messaging to improve public attitudes toward human rights.

Related Resources

• Multi-Year Support from a Funder: A Minority Group Achieves Groundbreaking Change through Ireland’s Civil Partnership Law for Same-Sex Couples