A case for movement building as community power
Movements have existed and have been organising long before “funding” and will continue to do so.
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.
From Nepal to Nebraska: Rediscovering the power within communities
In today’s context, where international aid is shrinking and trust in global institutions like the UN and development agencies are declining, the need to reimagine development has become more important than ever.
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.
Save the date for the next #ShiftThePower Summit in Kathmandu, December 2026
#ShiftThePower Global Summit will be held in Kathmandu, Nepal from 2 – 4 December 2026.
Community philanthropy changes mindsets in Burkina Faso
Lenie Hoegen Dijkhof, Abdoulaye Sawadogo and Malo Debe According to the CIVICUS Monitor 2024 report, Burkina Faso’s civic space was downgraded to “repressed,” dropping 12 points from …
What Hungary’s civil society funding crisis can teach us
Hungary has around 60,000 registered NGOs. A significant portion of these exist mostly on paper. Many operate in apolitical fields or provide valuable services without engaging deeply with questions of democracy, rule of law, or civic participation. The government’s strategy is subtle and devastating: not overt bans or shutdowns, but a campaign of financial strangulation and administrative pressure. The goal is clear: silence through suffocation.
Bonding, bridging and the reparative role of philanthropy
Civil society was once indistinguishable from community. It lived in cooperatives like Banyankore Kweterana, or the Ghana Marketing Association, in women’s groups like the Women’s National Coalition, in student associations and more. It was relational, relatable and right next door. But somewhere along the way, NGO-ization gentrified civil society’s original landscape and transformed what used to be a local and people-powered civic space into a gated community of professionalized, donor-driven institutions that fenced off the everyday people that originally constituted civil society.
The balancing act of being “More than just a Grantmaker”
At NTT, we have always wanted to set ourselves apart from the western INGO model of grantmaking.
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 …