The EDGE Funders Team and Board of Directors are excited to share our new strategy for the upcoming years with you! The new strategy was approved by the EDGE Board at the end of 2024, and is a product of collective efforts by the EDGE community. Over the last 18 months, the EDGE Team held more than 20 interviews to dig deeper on the results of the 2023 EDGE Members Strategy Survey and hosted meetings with EDGE members and movement allies to gather perspectives and ideas, and to identify new directions for our work. This strategic framework 2025-2028 aims to include members and movement leaders even more in designing and setting priorities for all our work. It also marks a shift in how we want to achieve our mission and goals, by being more proactive in shaping and influencing philanthropic practices geared toward systemic change. Furthermore, during this process we also gained more clarity and articulated our approach to partnering with movements by centering their visions and priorities.

Our new strategy reflects our commitment to supporting the global movement to dismantle extractive funding systems by aligning resources with the priorities and visions of movements to drive systemic change and justice. We believe that facilitating systemic level shifts in philanthropy requires us to organize funders globally and make funders accountable by moving them away from rhetoric to action. To this end we have identified, the following objectives:

Organize funders globally to foster trust and collaborate with each other, so that they can disrupt the power dynamics inherent in philanthropy and create new systemic and anti-extractive funding practices.

Implement spaces for learning and taking actions by highlighting the voices, visions, and priorities of movement leaders and move towards the goal of systemic change

We are taking three main approaches in our new strategy, which would be reflected across all our member spaces, programs, and efforts to influence the philanthropic sector. These approaches encompass our hopes and plans for our engagement with our members, movement partners, as well as the larger philanthropy ecosystem which lies beyond our membership. This three pronged approach strengthens our work towards systemic change,with the intention of radically transforming philanthropy, while centering the visions and priorities of social justice movements. Here are the three approaches:

Approach 1: Facilitating systemic shifts in philanthropy
We will do this by creating and facilitating spaces for collective sense making and peer to peer learning, and members developing strategies, and taking concrete steps towards dismantling extractive funding systems.

Approach 2: Centering social justice movements’ visions and priorities
We will do this by influencing funding priorities and moving resources to systemic alternatives, centering movement priorities and creating bridges between movements and philanthropy, support in creating movement building spaces, and creating meaningful reciprocal relationships in our work with movement partners.

Approach 3: Influencing the larger ecosystem of philanthropy
We will do this by creating and disseminating knowledge building resources on progressive philanthropy practices, advocating strategically across sectors and partners, and ensuring a more geographically and institutionally diverse pool of funds joins our network

Next steps and Implementation

We’re thrilled to begin the journey of bringing this new strategy to life. Over the coming months, the EDGE team will focus on weaving the Strategic Framework into our programs and activities. Our goal is to ensure that everything we do reflects the commitments and priorities we’ve shaped together.

We’ll also be sharing updates on upcoming events and opportunities for you to engage. And we’re especially excited to announce that the full implementation of the strategy will be presented at the EDGE Annual Conference in Colombia this April. We hope you’ll join us there to explore, discuss, and celebrate this next chapter for EDGE.

As always, we welcome your thoughts, suggestions, and ideas on how we can make this strategy truly impactful. Your input is invaluable, so don’t hesitate to reach out with questions or feedback. Together, we can continue to transform philanthropy and drive systemic change.