– Sarabeth and Jon
Today is Publish Day, all proposals approved for the 50by40 granting platform can now be viewed by the philanthropic community. Working with the WeChangers platform, 50by40 launched our first funding round in late September 2020, closing the proposal submission period just last week. With proposal amounts of more than $11.5 million, here’s a quick look inside:
Spanning shovel-ready projects focused on the Global South, national policy interventions, and place-based solutions, we feature 30 partner organisations showcasing the seriousness of a food system crisis, and the diversity of opportunities ready to solve it. This first round features 46 proposals spanning 57 countries and highlights a strategic focus on the SDGs Zero Hunger, Good Health, Sustainable Cities, Sustainable Consumption and Production, Climate Change and lastly Life on Land. Subsequent rounds with 50by40 and WeChangers will continue to demonstrate innovative solutions that can catalyse philanthropic capital into the most pressing social, environmental, and economic issues driving the reduction of global animal agriculture. While our opening round is closed, the second round will open again in January 2021.
We are deeply honored to provide structure and facilitate grant-making through the provision of our new collaborative platform between partners and funders. By offering a central hub for proposals from our strong network of partner organisations, we are creating an environment that encourages innovation, collaboration, and connection. By bringing funders from a variety of relevant focus areas to this hub, we are leveraging a greater focus of energy and philanthropic support to efforts to reduce global animal agriculture, improve healthy futures and combat climate change.
The 50by40 WeChangers platform is designed to facilitate a convenient and enjoyable way for funders to identify appealing proposals and interact with prospective grantees via a sophisticated model of collaboration and engagement. In this way, we are serving as a bridge and connector, but not as a funder. 50by40 is fully funded, so does not fundraise for itself or any one organisation. This frees the 50by40 team to help philanthropists find the smartest path for them. Support for proposals will come directly from funders that 50by40 brings to the platform, as they will be connecting directly with partners. These funders have the option of remaining anonymous on the platform throughout the process.
50by40 will work to cut through the complexity of animal agriculture and environmental issues to give philanthropists who are new to the livestock and agricultural space confidence to act with the urgency and scale that the food system crisis demands. The 50by40 grant-making platform is a network model of partners and donors from around the world to source, vet, and lift high-impact, leading-edge animal agriculture solutions. As the platform grows, we intend to welcome additional funders from a variety of sectors. As 50by40 grows, we can all advance our mutually shared goals by focusing more time, energy, and funding on a 50% reduction in global animal agriculture by 2040.
We look forward to sharing details about funding awards after the funding round closes in late December 2020. In the meantime, if you’re a partner interested in participating in future funding rounds but don’t know where to start, please see our granting page and FAQ. If you’re not a partner but are still interested, then consider becoming a partner! And finally, if you’re a funder and this portfolio of proposals sounds appealing to you, please reach out to our Director of Partnerships and Development – sarabeth.brockley@50by40.org to get the conversation started.
Join 50by40 in bringing genuine respect for this unique and powerful collaboration model, working in a participatory way across the donor landscape and through 50by40’s extensive global networks. Our sincere gratitude to all who are involved with this process—together, we will succeed in our mission to reduce global animal agriculture 50% by 2040.
