If the economic climate is challenging, now, more than ever, it is time to strengthen initiatives that can transform the social realities in Brazil. For 15 years BrazilFoundation has mobilized resources for social initiatives in Brazil. On October 15th it launched its biannual call for proposals, offering two lines of financial support: Seed Investment (up to R$ 30,000), and Improvement of Methodologies (up to R$50,000). The Foundation will allocate between R$ 1.5 million and R$ 2 million to fund social projects throughout 2016.
Organizations can only apply online between October 15 and November 30, 2015, on the website brazilfoundation.org. The project selection is geared towards civil society organizations with operations throughout Brazil in the areas of Education and Culture; Health; Socioeconomic Development; Human Rights and Civic Engagement, and Social Enterprise.
Following its tradition of responding to the demands of the social sector in Brazil, BrazilFoundation is launching two other innovative selection processes: Collaborative Arrangements (partnership funding between two or more institutions) and the Community Innovation Award (microfinancing of informal initiatives, identified through BrazilFoundation’s network of partners).
“The social sector in Brazil is still very fragmented and, given the urgency of the social challenges, we need to create a culture of collaboration and sharing of methodologies” – says Patricia Lobaccaro, president of BrazilFoundation, about the inclusion of Collaborative Arrangements as one of the funding areas. Patricia says that the process of formalizing organizations in the country is slow, costly, and cannot keep up with the urgency of social demands. “The idea of financing initiatives that are not yet formalized, through our network of partners, is to use the wisdom and knowledge acquired in their respective territories and areas of expertise to democratize access to resources and encourage innovation and discovery of new social technologies.”
Besides financial support, BrazilFoundation provides training for project leaders of selected organizations in order to strengthen project planning, financial management, communications and fundraising.
