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Shifting the Field: Philanthropy’s role in strengthening child- and youth-led community rooted groups

In 2019, Elevate Children Funders Group (ECFG) commissioned the exploratory study, ‘Philanthropy’s role in strengthening child- and youth-led community rooted groups.’ The objective of this study was to map current practices in philanthropic support for child and youth led work at the community level and provide strategic advice to donors on how to strengthen their funding modalities through participatory approaches to achieve greater and more effective impact. The findings and recommendations from this process—conducted through literature review, key informant interviews, focus groups, and online surveys with funders, child- and youth-led community rooted groups, and non-funders—articulated in this report will pave the road for members of ECFG to challenge their own practices; build on the broader philanthropic momentum to shift money down to the grassroots level; explore ways to influence the broader philanthropic sector; and influence and shift the wider donor community thinking and approaches.