From Grant Writing to Inclusive Resource Mobilisation
By Alfred Akerele
For decades, many nonprofits across the Global South operated within a grant writing model: identify a donor, respond to a call for proposals, submit an application, and hope for approval. While this approach has enabled critical services and advocacy, it has also entrenched dependency, short funding cycles, donor-driven agendas, and administrative overload.
It’s becoming a repeated cycle that is no longer sustainable.
In the Global South, where civic space may be constrained, domestic philanthropy is underdeveloped, and international aid is volatile, relying narrowly on grant writing is increasingly risky. We need a broader, more resilient approach that brings diversification, friendraising, and fundraising together into a clear system for inclusive fundraising.
Grants have enabled vital work. But when grant writing becomes the only funding strategy, it creates dependency, short-term cycles, and vulnerability to shifting donor priorities.
It’s time to consider a broader, futuristic approach.
Here is the salient idea: The resource mobilisation model will help build a diversified, relationship-driven ecosystem of support, financial and non-financial.
A good resource mobilisation model should integrate the following:
- Diversification of income streams
- Friendraising (building long-term supporters and advocates)
- Fundraising beyond institutional donors
- Community ownership
- Earned income and social enterprise
- Diaspora engagement
- Corporate partnerships
We must understand that the Global South organisations operate in environments where:
- International aid is volatile
- Civic space is constrained
- Regulatory conditions shift
- Public trust requires strengthening
- Local giving traditions exist, but remain untapped
For organisations in the Global South, the concept of inclusive resource mobilisation should go beyond mere technical enhancements. It marks a major shift in their approach to resource management, moving toward a model with stronger strategic control. This shift not only empowers these organisations to assert more control over their funding sources and strategies, but it also enables them to engage more meaningfully with the diverse stakeholders who contribute to their missions.
We are projecting inclusivity in resource mobilisation efforts that align organisational initiatives with the unique needs and priorities of their communities, leading to more sustainable development and more impactful outcomes.
Here’s the trick: every organisation must learn to combine:
- Grants
- Local philanthropy
- Community ownership
- Earned income
- Diaspora engagement
- Corporate partnerships
The future of sustainable civil society in the Global South lies not in better proposals alone, but in stronger relationships, diversified income, and shared ownership of the mission.
(Alfred Akerele is a Nigerian resource mobilisation consultant and grant writer with high-impact experience)
