Baobab Funding and Building Collective Liberation
At Baobab Foundation, we refuse to comply with the status quo when the status quo upholds injustice. UK philanthropy too often hesitates, delays, or outright withdraws funding from grassroots movements that challenge power.
We see this in how funders avoid supporting racial justice, trans rights, reproductive justice, and especially Disability Justice. The result? Stagnation, exclusion, and further harm to communities fighting for survival.
Philanthropy must not retreat; it must hold firm in funding justice.
Across the UK, philanthropy remains trapped by risk aversion and bureaucratic hurdles, prioritising compliance over courage and metrics over movement-building. This has devastating consequences. Disabled People remain disproportionately affected by welfare cuts, inaccessible healthcare and systemic neglect. Since 2010, austerity policies have gutted support structures, forcing thousands into poverty, while the UN has condemned the UK for “grave and systematic” violations of disabled people’s rights.
Meanwhile, reactionary politics are gaining traction, targeting Disabled, Black, and trans communities with increased hostility. If philanthropy continues to prioritise institutional safety over solidarity, it will actively contribute to this harm. Disability Justice teaches us that interdependence is not about charity, but about shared responsibility. Justice cannot be neatly packaged into funding cycles, nor can it wait for permission.
From Margin to Centre: Disability Justice and Collective Liberation
For too long, the most marginalised communities have been pushed to the margins of philanthropy, treated as an afterthought or a ‘risk’ rather than the center of movement-building. Disability Justice-led by Black, disabled, queer, and trans organisers, demands that we move these voices from the margins to the center. This means recognising that:
Access is not an afterthought; it is the foundation of justice.
Black and Global Majority Disabled organisers are not optional add-ons; they are movement leaders.
Funding activism must not be conditional on respectability or institutional legitimacy.
We Are Not Waiting
Across the UK, Disabled activists are already resisting state violence, economic exclusion, and systemic neglect. Groups like Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) fight brutal benefit cuts and challenge the narratives that frame Disabled People as undeserving. Sisters of Frida, a feminist and disability-led collective, is building spaces for Disabled women and non-binary people to challenge exclusion and create their own platforms of power. Black, disabled, trans, and queer organisers are carving out spaces for survival, resistance, and joy, despite increasing hostility.
These movements are already leading the way, philanthropy must catch up.
Philanthropy Must Choose a Side
Baobab exists to fund the work others deem too risky. We know that adapting to oppression is not neutrality, it is complicity. The UK funding sector has a choice:
1. Continue to play it safe while disabled and racialised communities are pushed further into crisis.
2. Commit to funding with courage, ensuring that marginalised communities lead and shape their own futures.
This means:
✅ Funding Black and Global Majority Disabled-led movements without demanding proof of legitimacy.
✅ Funding without conditions that tone-police or limit activism and campaigning.
✅ Trusting grassroots expertise over institutional gatekeeping.
✅ Resourcing Black and disabled-led futures that go beyond survival.
✅ Committing to larger and long-term funding that allows movements to build sustainable change rather than being forced into a cycle of short-term crisis response.
“Justice cannot be contained within funding cycles and bureaucratic applications.”
Funding Beyond Survival: Building Thriving Futures
Philanthropy must move beyond crisis response to fund long-term, transformative futures. What does that look like?
Long-term, unrestricted funding for grassroots movements to build power, not just survive.
Participatory grant-making models that shift decision-making power into the hands of communities.
Funding that centres accessibility and interdependence, ensuring movements led by Disabled, Black, and trans organisers are fully resourced.
Baobab is already putting these principles into action, delivering its second round of grants to Black-led, justice movements who are the most marginalised but we cannot do this alone. We invite and challenge other funders to join us in funding movements without fear, because justice cannot wait.
“Funding justice should not be the exception, it should be the rule.”
Will Philanthropy Follow?
Baobab is already resourcing movements that refuse to wait. The only question is: will philanthropy follow?
