Draft:Fund for Global Human Rights

The Fund for Global Human Rights is a nonprofit grantmaking foundation that provides financial and strategic support to grassroots human rights activists. It was founded in 2002 in Washington, D.C., by a group of human rights activists and donors. Since its founding, the Fund for Global Human Rights has delivered over $154 million to more than 1,100 activists and organizations in over 80 countries.

History
The Fund for Global Human Rights was founded in 2002 in Washington, D.C., by Mary Ann Stein, Joshua Mailman, and Mona Younis. Regan Ralph, who had previously directed the women's rights program at Human Rights Watch, was the founding president and chief executive officer.

The Fund for Global Human Rights made its first grants, totaling $1 million, in 2003 to activists in Latin America, South Asia, and West Africa. By 2006, the Fund for Global Human Rights' budget had grown to $6 million and it had expanded its work to North Africa and the Mediterranean, Southeast Asia, and the Great Lakes region of Sub-Saharan Africa, including Uganda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In 2013, the Fund for Global Human Rights opened an office in London, operating as the Fund for Global Human Rights UK. In 2015, it launched the Enabling Environments for Human Rights Defenders program to help activists push back against legislative, digital, and physical restrictions on activism.

In 2021, the Fund for Global Human Rights, in partnership with Namati, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, launched the Legal Empowerment Fund (LEF). The LEF offers two-year grants to activists and organizations using legal empowerment strategies in their work. The LEF is led by Kenyan human rights lawyer Atieno Odhiambo.

In 2023, Gabriela Bucher, who previously served as executive director of Oxfam International, was named president and chief executive officer of the Fund for Global Human Rights.

Profile
The Fund for Global Human Rights offers financial and strategic support to grassroots activists, organizations, and social movements working to address human rights issues including discrimination, poverty, hunger, conflict, forced migration, and sexual exploitation.

As a grantmaking intermediary, 86% of the Fund's budget goes toward programmatic activities, including grantmaking, technical assistance, and accompaniment. Apple has partnered with the Fund to provide support to human rights and environmental defenders in Africa. Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott has also supported the Fund.

The Fund for Global Human Rights has a four-star rating on Charity Navigator and a platinum transparency seal on Candid.