Why Locally Led Development? Why Now?
A localized approach means committing to grantmaking directly to local partners and building trusted relationships that value local perspectives and viewpoints. When foundations invest directly in countries and communities around the world, we achieve more equitable and sustained outcomes in direct partnership with local communities and civil society.
As a sector with the unique ability to take risks, commit to long-term change, and act flexibly, U.S. foundations have a unique window of opportunity in this global moment to rapidly advance localization, in partnership with bilateral and multilateral funders. Recent data shows that U.S. foundations made 13% of grants direct to local entities between 2016 and 2019.
The Council on Foundations and Locally Led Development
The Council on Foundations has supported foundations working internationally for decades, helping to streamline regulations and champion best practices to help funders more easily make global grants. Encouraging foundations to give more directly to locally led organizations is a key part of our strategic direction, and aligns with our beliefs that the more we let go of control and power, the more others can lead and the more we let others in, the better ideas and relationships become.
In 2023, the Council supported the commitment of 15 global grantmakers to advance locally led development. This effort was closely supported by USAID, which as of January 2025 is no longer a government entity and some of its funding has been moved to the State Department.
To deepen our collective understanding of the data, the Council produced Advancing Locally Led Development: An Overview of U.S. Foundations’ Direct Global Giving, a report analyzing how U.S.-based foundations make international grants directly to locally led organizations in countries where they are registered. This data is available now, for the first time, to support the field to move toward increased direct global grantmaking.
