The future of African philanthropy will not be built by bringing communities closer to funders. It will be built by moving power, capital, and decision-making closer to communities.
By Khalid Ali
That principle sits at the heart of Proximate Fund, an African-led philanthropic platform designed to channel resources to locally rooted organisations, community initiatives and grassroots leaders. As conversations about localisation, aid reform and African philanthropy gather momentum, Proximate Fund offers a practical funding architecture that places trust, resources and decision-making closer to the people who understand local realities.
Sudan is the model’s first country rollout and has operated for more than a year. Kenya is expected to become the second rollout country before the end of 2026, with additional countries planned. Together, these country funds will contribute to a wider Pan-African platform for locally led development, community-led humanitarian action and African philanthropy.
Proximate Fund and allies at a 2025 convening on locally led financing. Photo: Adeso
What is the Proximate Fund?
Proximate Fund is a Pan-African platform that pools philanthropic capital and moves resources, accountability and decision-making closer to communities. The platform is incubated by Adeso in collaboration with the African Philanthropy Forum and the Network for Empowered Aid Response.
The premise is simple. Communities possess critical knowledge about their own challenges, opportunities and priorities, yet many funding systems continue to place key decisions far from those communities. Proximate Fund seeks to close that gap by giving local knowledge, community legitimacy and contextual expertise a greater role in funding decisions.
The model retains governance, safeguarding, due diligence, and accountability. It strengthens these standards by grounding them in proximity, trust, and community validation as well as formal compliance systems.
Why is a New Funding Model Needed?
Across challenging contexts, local organisations are often the first to respond during a crisis, and the institutions that remain long after international attention has shifted. They understand local dynamics, maintain community relationships, and continue supporting recovery and development over time.
Despite their importance, funding often passes through several layers before reaching frontline actors. Priorities are frequently defined far from affected communities, while local organisations may have limited influence over what is funded and how success is measured.
“Consultation is not the same as power. Participation is not the same as ownership.”
Proximate Fund was created in response to this challenge. If communities are expected to shape their own futures, they need greater influence over the resources and decisions that affect them.
How Proximate Fund Works
The model combines philanthropic capital with locally informed review and decision-making through a clear funding pathway.
- Pool philanthropic capital. Donors contribute resources to Proximate Fund.
- Use locally informed review. Reviewers with direct knowledge of local contexts assess opportunities and inform funding decisions.
- Back locally rooted organisations. Funding reaches actors with demonstrated leadership, local credibility, and a record of service.
- Respond to community-defined priorities. Support is directed towards needs and opportunities identified within communities.
Community trust and contextual knowledge are considered alongside governance structures, safeguarding requirements, and financial controls. The result is accountability grounded in context.
Why Sudan
Sudan offers one of the clearest demonstrations of why proximity matters. Conflict, displacement, and economic hardship have placed extraordinary pressure on communities across the country. Yet Sudanese civil society organisations, Emergency Response Rooms, mutual-aid networks and grassroots initiatives continue to organise, respond and support affected people.
In many localities, these actors are leading responses long before traditional funding systems are activated. The proximity model recognises this reality and strengthens existing leadership instead of replacing it.
Sudan became the first rollout country because it offered a compelling opportunity to test, refine and demonstrate how a community-centered funding architecture can work in practice.
Proximate Fund Sudan in El Fasher
One early example came through support to Emergency Response Rooms responding to the humanitarian crisis in El Fasher, North Darfur. Funding contributed to community kitchens, food distribution, clean water provision, and assistance for internally displaced people.
The significance extends beyond the activities funded. The resources strengthened structures that were already embedded in affected communities and trusted by local people. Instead of creating a parallel system, the support reinforced existing local capacity and leadership.
What Makes Proximate Fund Different
Many organisations support localisation. Proximate Fund seeks to redesign the funding architecture through five practical features.
- African-led governance. The platform is designed around African leadership and priorities.
- Community-informed decision-making. Local knowledge and community legitimacy shape how opportunities are assessed.
- Flexible philanthropic capital. Funding can respond to priorities as communities define them.
- Fewer intermediary layers. A more direct pathway reduces the distance between funders and frontline actors.
- Long-term ecosystem building. The focus is on durable local funding infrastructure rather than isolated project transactions.
The model also recognises that legitimacy takes different forms. A community organisation that has delivered consistently, mobilised volunteers and earned local trust holds evidence of credibility that conventional institutional assessments can miss. Proximate Fund considers evidence alongside financial management and safeguarding requirements.
Khalid Ali, Managing Director of Proximate Fund Sudan, at the Clinton Global Initiative in September 2025. Photo: Adeso
Adeso and the Proximate Fund Vision
Proximate Fund forms part of Adeso’s evolution from a traditional humanitarian organisation into an institution builder and incubator of transformative initiatives.
Over the past two decades, Adeso has helped advance localisation and locally led development. The Network for Empowered Aid Response, now a global movement advocating for locally led humanitarian and development action, was incubated within Adeso. Adeso also helped establish Pledge for Change, which seeks to rebalance power relationships across the aid sector.
Through Proximate Fund, Adeso is extending that work into philanthropy by helping build financing mechanisms and institutions capable of supporting long-term, locally led change.
The Future of African Philanthropy
Sudan is only the beginning. As Proximate Fund expands to Kenya and future countries, the ambition is to create a continent-wide platform that strengthens African philanthropy while expanding direct support to locally rooted organisations.
The goal is to build funding infrastructure capable of identifying, assessing, supporting, and scaling community-led solutions. Africa does not lack leadership, innovation, resilience, or generosity. What has often been missing is a funding architecture designed to recognise and invest in those strengths.
The Future Starts with Proximity
Communities were solving problems, pooling resources, and supporting one another long before modern aid systems existed. The question for philanthropy is whether funding systems are prepared to trust that leadership and build around it.
That is the promise of the Proximate Fund. Resources, influence and decision-making can move closer to communities, enabling locally led solutions to grow across Sudan, across Africa and beyond.
For funding partners, the model offers an African-led route to invest in local leadership. For local organisations, it creates new opportunities to shape priorities and access flexible support. For researchers, policymakers, and the wider public, it provides a practical example of how philanthropic systems can become more equitable, effective, and accountable.
The future of African philanthropy is not something that lies decades away. It is already being built. And it starts with proximity.
Read the full Proximate Press feature, “Africa’s Next Philanthropic Architecture,” and explore what it means to move funding decisions closer to the people who understand the challenges, possibilities and solutions best.