Foundation funding for human rights totalled £2.8 billion in 2016 according to a new report from Human Rights Funders Network and Candid – an increase of 34 per cent from the previous year.

The latest Advancing Human Rights report included analysis of 785 funders from 43 countries and the grants captured in the research supported 13,242 organisations worldwide in 2016. The number is of grants awarded increased by 14 per cent to 23,016. Although 87 per cent of funders were based in North America, the number of funders based outside the region has more than doubled since the initial analysis six years ago.

The Caribbean and Latin America and Mexico showed the largest percentage increases in funding at 46 and 41 per cent. This is due in part to a $10 million grant to support sexual and reproductive rights in these regions, and a $25 million grant to establish an endowment fund to promote racial equality in Brazil. Health and Well-being Rights received the most supports at $344 million followed by Equality Rights and Freedom from Discrimination at $327 million and Social and Cultural Rights $273 million.

The top 12 Human Rights Funders accounted for 51 per cent of funding at $1.5 billion. The top human rights funder by grant dollars awarded in 2016 was Ford Foundation at $253 million followed by Open Society Foundations at $154 million and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation at $149 million. In the Global South and East, the top funder was Fondo Centroamericano de Mujeres at $8 million, followed by Fundación AVINA at $3 million and the Foundation for Civil Society also at $3million.

Read the full report here: http://www.issuelab.org