WINGS have announced a new award to recognise and encourage funders that support the ongoing development and transformation of the field. The Ecosystem Funder award was announced at the 7th edition of WINGSForum, co-hosted with the African Philanthropy Network (APN) in Nairobi, Kenya, which gathered over 350 participants from over 50 countries.

Beginning in 2024 the WINGS Ecosystem Funder Award will be given to an individual or organisation that’s making an extraordinary contribution to developing the field and ensuring it can meet its fullest potential. The award was announced by CEO and President of Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, Ridgway White, who said. ‘The new award will be a meaningful and encouraging endorsement from the field.’ Ridgway’s father, Bill White, was recognised for his work with Mott Foundation when the organisation was awarded the IMAGine Award at the 2014 WINGSForum in Istanbul, Turkey.

Ridgway continued, ‘I hope it will also be a call to action for other funders as the work you’re doing is more important than ever’, stating that the contributions to the field deserves ‘robust support’ as the world faces up tremendous threats including the ‘climate emergency, the profound impacts of artificial intelligence, rising economic inequality racial and ethnic injustice’.

‘When I think of the role philanthropy support organisations played during the pandemic and in response to the war in Ukraine and how they step up every day in communities around the world, I’m reminded of why we and others have invested in this ecosystem for decades.’ Ridgway White, Mott Foundation

White closed by calling on the field to ‘keep innovating and strengthening this infrastructure and ecosystem, and expand and deepen it’ to ensure that it’s ready to meet the challenges and opportunities ahead, with the hope that the award will inspire funders to do more.

Zibran Choudhury is Communications, Partnerships & Membership Manager at Alliance magazine