At the October 2021 EDGE Funders Alliance annual conference, FICS Director Poonam Joshi was among the keynote speakers on a panel discussing the “Barriers to Change: What’s holding us back from the futures we need?”

Poonam made a provocative contribution to the session on what progressive philanthropy needs to do better: it should be bold about funding futures-thinking and visioning work; and it needs to really step up on the scale of its investment in countering the anti-rights movements funded by the religious right.

Poonam also made a plea for leaders in philanthropy and civil society to put ego aside, and recognise that the attack on civic space is too big and complex for anyone to own or solve alone – we need to be collaborative, and we need to be brave about getting into political spaces where democracy needs defending against authoritarians.

You can watch Poonam alongside colleagues from Rawa Fund, FundAction, Open Society Foundations and the People’s Advocacy Institute / Electoral Justice Project of the Movement for Black Lives here.

The EDGE Funders Alliance holds an annual conference for funders and social movements working across environment, social justice and human rights to come together and share knowledge and experience of how to create systemic change.