Centering Care in Philanthropy: Reimagining How We Fund Change
Centering Care in Philanthropy
In one of the FRC Conversations in 2023, a young changemaker said something that has stayed with us:
“Ethics of care rooted in inter-personal relationships is conducive to fostering trust between grant-makers and recipients.”
It was a reminder that philanthropy, at its best, is not about transactions, compliance, or numbers. It is about people, relationships, and trust.
At the Foundation for Rebuilding Childhood (FRC), we are putting this insight into practice. Our goal is to place care, not control, at the center of grant-making, creating approaches that nurture transformational, not transactional, change.
Beyond “Caring About” Issues
Philanthropy is often understood as caring about an issue. But at FRC, care shapes not just what we fund, but how we fund.
Our approach begins with trust-based philanthropy: providing flexible funding so organisations can use resources where they are most needed; offering capacity-building support to strengthen growth beyond programs; and cultivating partnerships that foster safety, accountability, and trust.
By prioritising relationships and long-term impact, philanthropy becomes a tool for empowerment, not just charity.
Trusting Grassroots Organisations
Small, grassroots organisations, often nascent, unregistered, or led by young changemakers, are deeply connected to their communities. They understand root causes and are uniquely positioned to act effectively.
Yet compliance-heavy systems often exclude them from formal funding. Centering care means seeking out and supporting these organisations through seed funding, incubation, and mentorship. Believing in their potential is not just care, it’s a strategy.
Flexible funding recognises that operational support, leadership development, and staff well-being are essential investments, not overheads. Paired with capacity development, it allows grassroots organisations to thrive beyond the life of a single grant.
Humanising Social Change
Changemaking is demanding and often exhausting. Leaders are not abstract agents, they are people carrying their communities’ struggles.
Centering care means:
- Allowing room for failure and treating it as learning
- Supporting rest, recovery, and wellbeing
- Valuing leaders as the primary resource of a movement, not just metrics in a report
When philanthropy is grounded in care, it makes the work of justice itself more just.
Care is Contextual, Intersectional, and Systemic
Effective support considers local realities, cultural nuances, and overlapping forms of marginalisation. It requires collaborations that address systemic issues holistically and recognises philanthropy as part of a larger ecosystem rather than a superior actor.
Centering care requires a mindset shift: from compliance to trust, from transactional grants to relational partnerships, and from one-way accountability to mutual accountability.
It means creating safe spaces for difficult conversations, embracing mutual learning, and walking alongside partners as equals. Care becomes the foundation, not a by-product, of philanthropy.
Reimagining Philanthropy
Centering care does not mean abandoning rigor. It means redefining accountability: to people, relationships, and the long-term health of movements.
If philanthropy is to be truly transformative, it must invest in people, not just programs. Metrics matter, but meaning matters more.
Because care is not soft. Care is radical. And care is what makes lasting change possible.,