$3M Fund Will Make $10K To $150K Grants To Boost Civic Participation In Latin America

Even before Covid-19 started ravaging countries in Latin America, democratic institutions were under threat. Satisfaction with democracy fell from 61% in 2010 to 48% in 2018, according to researcher Latinobarómetro. Now, those threats and instability have only grown amid the escalating economic, health and social crises caused by the pandemic.

With that in mind, three groups just joined forces to form Pulsante, a $3 million fund aimed at protecting and expanding civic participation and democracy in Latin America.

“Pulsante seeks to provide the funding and resources necessary to empower defenders of democracy and human rights across the region,” says Felipe Estefan, investment director at Luminate, one of the fund’s backers. In 2018, Luminate was spun off from Omidyar Network, which turned its then ten-year-old Governance & Engagement initiative into a separate unit.

Other backers are Fundación Avina and the Open Society Foundations.

Grants Aimed at Sustainability

According to Estefan, the pandemic hit the region at a time when the area was already experiencing upheaval and growing economic inequality. “The relationship between citizens and their governments had started to fray,” he says. The devastating impact of Covid has made the environment even worse.

Funding will entirely take the form of grants. “We believe the deepening economic crisis in Latin America as a result of Covid is going to last for a long time,” says Estefan. “As a result, it’s important we find a way to seed the type of initiatives that can support a more just and inclusive society. We’re providing the money they need to get them going until they can become sustainable.” For-profit grantees will probably work with a fiscal sponsor or tap a different type of hybrid legal status.

The fund initially is focusing on its Rapid-Response Fund, which targets highly specific, time-sensitive, urgent actions that need immediate support with three-to-six-month $10,000 to $30,000 grants. (Think a government issues an executive order that undermines human rights, calling for fast legal action by opponents).

In December, applications will open up for another focus area—organizations trying to expand and protect civic participation. Those $50,000 to $150,000 grants will provide financial and technical support to for-profit and nonprofit civic empowerment organizations.

At the same time, the fund will launch an effort to finance, “social movements”, or grass-roots activities to make democracy “more transparent, participatory and representative,” says Estefan. Those people won’t go through an application process. Instead, according to Estefan, he and his colleagues will do mapping exercises to pinpoint potential grantees, who will then be interviewed. Those selected will receive $30,000 to $80,000 in grants, as well as technical support.

At the same time, the fund will support research efforts and other ecosystem level activities.

Pulsante is the successor to the Latin American Alliance for Civic Technology (ALTEC), a fund for developing for-profit and nonprofit civic tech platforms launched by Omidyar Network and Avina Americas. ALTEC’s two cycles, from 2012-2015 and 2016-2019, committed $6 million to more than 50 civic tech projects in Latin America.