Strategic decisions are only as good as the research that goes into making them. Candid's researchers analyze and interpret the most current philanthropic data so you can tap into it. Hundreds of full-text reports published over decades are available to download here in our frequently updated open access repository.

Also available: a collection of reports that use Candid data. Access the Candid data in the field library.

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Advancing Human Rights : Annual Review of Global Foundation Grantmaking, 2019 Key Findings

November 1, 2022

Every year, Candid and Human Rights Funders Network's (HRFN's) Advancing Human Rights research reveals insights from the latest, most comprehensive data available for global human rights philanthropy. The goal of this study is to provide long-term evidence to understand gaps, changes, and new possibilities in resourcing human rights. In this year's analysis, the authors track the $4.1 billion that foundations granted in 2019 in support of human rights. This represents a 10% increase from the previous year and points to several hopeful and surprising trends.

Avanzando Los Derechos Humanos: Hallazgos Clave Del 2019

November 1, 2022

Cada año, la investigación que lleva a cabo Advancing Human Rights de Candid y Human Rights Funders Network (HRFN) revela información de los datos más recientes y completos disponibles para la filantropía global de derechos humanos.1 Nuestro objetivo es proveer evidencia a largo plazo para comprender las brechas, los cambios y las nuevas posibilidades en la provisión de recursos de derechos humanos.

Promotion Des Droits Humains: Principales Conclusions De 2019

November 1, 2022

Chaque année, la recherche Promotion des droits humains de Candid and Human Rights Funders Network (HRFN) révèle des informations tirées des données les plus récentes et les plus complètes disponibles pour la philanthropie en matière de droits humains dans le monde. Notre objectif est de fournir des preuves à long terme permettant de comprendre les lacunes, les changements et les nouvelles possibilités en matière de financement du secteur des droits humains.

Advancing Human Rights: Annual Review of Global Foundation Grantmaking, 2018 Key Findings

July 20, 2021

In the wake of recent events – a pandemic, worldwide protests, new elections – 2018 may feel like a world away. As we look at the 2018 data, it's important to understand that many of the human rights issues we currently face grew out of this context. Even responses to COVID-19 cannot be divorced from the foundational issues that shape how governments, social movements, and funders address – or compound – human rights abuses. Writing in a year of so much global unrest, we see this report as a baseline and an offering, a trajectory of the trends that helps identify places where philanthropy can better meet the needs of human rights movements around the world. 

Peace and Security Funding Index: An Analysis of Global Foundation Grantmaking - 2020 Edition

November 19, 2020

Through the Peace and Security Funding Index, Candid and the Peace and Security Funders Group aim to illuminate the field of peace and security grantmaking and provide a nuanced understanding of the issues and strategies peaceand security funders support.The Index tracks funding for work to prevent future conflict, resolve existing conflict, and support stability and peace across 24 issue areas (e.g., peacebuilding, nuclear issues). It includes grantmaking by institutional funders, including private foundations, public charities, and community foundations.In 2018, 335 foundations made 2,539 grants totaling $376.8M for peace and security. 

Philanthropy for a safe, healthy, and just world

July 13, 2020

In 2019, Candid and Centris, with support from PeaceNexus Foundation, conducted a survey, Philanthropy for a Safe, Healthy, and Just World. The results, based on 823 civil society organization responses, reveal philanthropists can do better to support global peacebuilding efforts.The world today continues to be shaken by armed conflicts, yet, according to research by Candid, peace-related grantmaking comprises less than 1 percent of all grants. Further, the study found that only 18 percent of survey respondents indicated that conflict transformation and peacebuilding were "very important" to their work; in fact, it ranked at the very bottom of the list. Still, 57 percent of respondents said that supporting resilience and stable societies—a key component of peacebuilding— is either important or central to their work. Moreover, it was more common for organizations to see their work through the lens of social justice or human rights than through the lens of peace, suggesting a broader understanding and acceptance of these frameworks compared to peace.

Advancing Human Rights Annual Review of Global Foundation Grantmaking: 2017 Key Findings

June 25, 2020

With limited resources and immense challenges, now more than ever human rights grantmakers and advocates are asking critical questions about the human rights funding landscape: Where is the money going? What are the gaps? Who is funding what? The Advancing Human Rights research tracks the evolving state of human rights philanthropy by collecting and analyzing grants data to equip funders and advocates to make more informed and effective decisions. Human Rights Funders Network (HRFN) and Candid lead the research, in partnership with Ariadne–European Funders for Social Change and Human Rights, and Prospera–International Network of Women's Funds.In 2017, the research found that 849 foundations awarded 25,229 human rights grants totaling $3.2B to 13,819 recipients around the world, 28% of which was reported as flexible general support.

Advancing Human Rights Annual Review of Global Foundation Grantmaking: 2015 Key Findings

September 1, 2019

In 2015, familiar threats to human rights and human rights philanthropy continued. As conflicts persisted in countries like Syria, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic, the number of refugees fleeing violence and hunger soared. Extremist groups perpetrated mass violence from Nigeria and Egypt, to Kenya and France, including the targeted killing of staff from the French magazine Charlie Hedbo. Threats to closing civic space intensified as more countries adopted laws targeting and restricting organizations that work to hold governments accountable, including the funders that back them, often under the pretext of counterterrorism.Despite these many concerns, we saw inspiring advances for human rights around the world across a range of issues. Women in Saudi Arabia voted and stood for election for the very first time, and the governments of the Gambia and Nigeria outlawed female genital mutilation. The Supreme Court in the United States legalized same sex marriage, while the Irish people did so through a historic popular vote. Cuba and the U.S. restored diplomatic ties after more than five decades, and Iran signed a deal to curb its nuclear program. At the end of the year, nearly 200 countries reached the landmark Paris Agreement on climate change to mitigate global warming.Against this backdrop, in 2015 foundations allocated a total of $2.4 billion in support of human rights.

The State of Global Giving by U.S. Foundations, 2011-2015

August 14, 2018

The State of Global Grantmaking Giving by U.S. Foundations is the latest report in a decades-long collaboration between Foundation Center and The Council on Foundations and aims to help funders and civil society organizations better navigate the giving landscape as they work to effect change around the world. The analysis reveals that global giving by U.S. foundations increased by 29% from 2011 to 2015, reaching an all-time high of $9.3 billion in 2015. In addition to a detailed analysis of trends by issue area, geographic region, population group, and donor strategy, this analysis also relates these trends to key events and developments, including the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals, the spread of Ebola in West Africa, and the increasing legal restrictions faced by civil society in countries around the world.

International trends

Facilitating Financial Sustainability: Executive Summary

May 30, 2018

Financial sustainability remains a critical challenge for civil society organizations (CSOs) around the world. Although a variety of toolkits and research papers exist examining specific sustainability strategies, many CSOs continue to struggle to develop and maintain the resources they need to carry out their missions. This constraint limits organizational autonomy by inhibiting long-term planning and flexibility in designing and implementing activities. Financial sustainability is also a key piece of the puzzle to empower local organizations to take greater ownership of the development process, as a robust resource base provides the resilience needed for organizations to experiment with new models that reduce long-term donor dependence. This paper synthesizes the findings from the analyses of both funders and CSOs. This represents one part of the three-part FFS research series, and is best considered alongside the other two papers in the series to give a holistic perspective on CSO financial sustainability: Funder Approaches to CSO Sustainability, which includes a deep-dive analysis of the landscape of strategies used by funders interested in supporting sustainability, and Understanding Factors Driving CSO Financial Sustainability, which lays out the full findings from interviews with representatives from more than 30 CSOs.

Data and Knowledge for Greater Impact in the Arab Region: Report on AFF 2016 Data Coalition Outcomes and 2017 Goals and Priorities Roadmap

September 8, 2017

Through the leadership of the Arab Foundations Forum (AFF), philanthropy within the Arab region has recognized the importance and value of data and knowledge in the success and impact of its grant making and program implementation, and has recently mobilized to undertake work on data, knowledge issues, and identifying opportunities. AFF is a regional membership-based association of foundations that aims to support an effective and strategic philanthropic sector in the Arab region that engages with all aspects of society towards growing social responsibility and investment, while advancing public good.The Arab region, however, lacks an organized framework for collecting, processing, and sharing reliable and comparable data on philanthropy. In order to help meet this need, in 2016 AFF mobilized philanthropy in the region to take action collectively, with the support of the Foundation Center and the American University in Cairo.

(ARABIC) Data and Knowledge for Greater Impact in the Arab Region: Report on AFF 2016 Data Coalition Outcomes and 2017 Goals and Priorities Roadmap

September 8, 2017

Through the leadership of the Arab Foundations Forum (AFF), philanthropy within the Arab region has recognized the importance and value of data and knowledge in the success and impact of its grant making and program implementation, and has recently mobilized to undertake work on data, knowledge issues, and identifying opportunities. AFF is a regional membership-based association of foundations that aims to support an effective and strategic philanthropic sector in the Arab region that engages with all aspects of society towards growing social responsibility and investment, while advancing public good.The Arab region, however, lacks an organized framework for collecting, processing, and sharing reliable and comparable data on philanthropy. In order to help meet this need, in 2016 AFF mobilized philanthropy in the region to take action collectively, with the support of the Foundation Center and the American University in Cairo.