The unprecedented cuts to so-called foreign aid (formally known as Official Development Assistance, or ODA) in 2024 and 2025 served as yet another reminder that unilateral, top-down ways of funding do not serve the cause of creating a more equitable and decolonised global system.
And luckily, an alternative already exists: flexible funding that gives people and communities the freedom to tackle their own needs and challenges. Funding that is liberating, rather than constraining.
Through desk research and in-depth conversations with a wide range of funders, we have identified four flexible funding models that are currently being used by a wide range of funders and re-granters: Direct Champions, Connectors, Experimenters, and Convener-Advocates.
