The Place of Movements at EDGE in the 2025-2028 Strategy

Written by EDGE staff

As EDGE Funders Alliance embarks on its 2025-2028 strategic framework, movements remain at the heart of our work. EDGE has long been committed to aligning resources with the priorities and visions of global justice movements, and this new strategy deepens that commitment by ensuring that movement engagement is not just an aspect of our work—but it is foundational to how we operate.

Movements as Core to Systemic Change

EDGE defines movements as collectives of people, whether formally structured or not, who align on alternative and just visions for society. These groups—comprising activists, grassroots organizations, and networks—are not dependent on philanthropy but benefit from it to sustain and amplify their work.

Historically, EDGE has taken its lead from strong global movements, particularly in its early focus on trade justice, the World Social Forums, and climate justice mobilizations. This approach of including a systemic lens, while also focusing on how individual and organizational actors in philanthropy can respond and transform their practices, iremain the core to how we engage movements today.

The new strategy strengthens EDGE’s role as a bridge between funders and movements, ensuring that all the key reflections by movement organizers are reaching funders so that philanthropic practices are shaped and redefined by those on the frontlines of justice struggles.

Movements are not just beneficiaries; they are co-creators of new funding systems that challenge extractive practices and reimagine how resources flow with and beyond philanthropy.

At the same time we recognize that there are certain tensions and challenges in doing this work. EDGE is a funder organizer, not a movement organizer, and must navigate the balance between supporting movements and ensuring funders take action.

In our experience, funders continually illustrate that they are influenced by global and local current affairs, as well as other funders’ grantmaking practices and work. Our objectives, actions, and outcomes help surface and disseminate systemic change priorities and alternative visions emerging from Movements. We understand that this work on its own is not enough to shift funding practices but we hope that combined with other strands of EDGE programme work that are more directly related to the dismantling of extractive funding systems, we are able to organize and influence our funders membership and their long term grantmaking strategies. To address this, EDGE will introduce structured feedback loops to track changes in funder behavior within this strategy cycle.

Strategic Priorities for Movement Engagement

To embed movements more deeply into the EDGE network, the 2025-2028 strategy prioritizes three key areas:

1. Shifting Funder Practices:

EDGE will continue to support funders in moving beyond passive listening toward active, solidarity-driven funding that responds to movement priorities. This means interrogating power imbalances and following movement leadership in shaping funding strategies.
2. Strengthening Movement Infrastructure:

Through travel support, dedicated convening spaces, and peer-learning opportunities, EDGE leverages its connections with a network of funders, and access to resources to provide movements with opportunities to build collective power and strategize on their own terms. Whenever possible, we will offer movement-only spaces for deep reflection and community-building, recognizing the need for autonomy in movement organizing.
3. Mobilizing Collective Action:

EDGE organizes responses to urgent crises and global events, ensuring that funders and movements work together in moments of political and social upheaval. This includes collaborative advocacy, petitions, and collective strategizing. Additionally, a structured response framework will be developed to ensure EDGE members mobilize effectively and equitably in times of crises.

Implementation of new strategy: Centering movements

Movements at EDGE shape and redefine key spaces, they influence conference planning, the Global Engagement Lab, initiatives’ agendas and public education efforts, ensuring the network’s offerings align with movement priorities. The strategy operationalizes movement engagement through different workstreams:

Dialogues: Continue to facilitate cross-movement dialogues, workshops, and discussions on themes like Hope and Repair, Building Power, and Liberation. These spaces acknowledge ideological and contextual differences while fostering conversations that highlight the interconnectedness of systemic crises. Movement representatives and funders will engage in a year-long series of dialogues shaped by collective input.
Movement Building: Leverage EDGE’s privileges to support movement partners by increasing access to philanthropic spaces and providing underfunded opportunities for collective reflection and restoration. EDGE will continue to offer travel funds for the EDGE conference, movement-only spaces, and in-person convenings when possible.
Organizing: Responding to global crises and key events by mobilizing the EDGE network remains important. This includes collective action such as advocacy efforts, petitions, teach-ins, and strategic participation in major convenings (e.g., COP, CSW).
EDGE Governance: Movements will have a formal role in EDGE’s governance, shaping strategic direction beyond programming. Strengthening movement representation in governance is central to EDGE’s accountability framework in this strategy cycle.

Looking Ahead:

As we move into this next phase of strategy implementation, we are looking towards the EDGE community for feedback. We would love to hear from you and understand how we may do this work successfully. Check your mailboxes for dates for feedback townhalls!

Contact Hana ElSafoury (hana@edgefunders.org) and Yagna Nag Chowdhuri (yagna@edgefunders.org)