September 22, 2026
Dear readers,
It’s a busy week for TAI in New York, with UNGA and New York Climate Week bringing funders, policymakers, and civil society together for a packed agenda. In this Weekly, we look at democratic backsliding, political influence, civic space, locally led development, and the changing pressures facing civil society and think tanks.
We also explore at the information ecosystem, from the role of local journalism in sustaining civic life to the importance of cross-border investigative reporting in holding powerful actors to account. Read on for these stories, plus new resources, opportunities, and updates from TAI members.
Happy reading!
What's New
The International IDEA has released its “Global State of Democracy Report 2026: Democracy in an Age of Conflict.” The report examines democratic decline and progress around the world and the implications of growing global conflict. It finds that 57% of countries assessed had declined in at least one area of democratic performance in 2025 compared with five years earlier, while 32% had advanced.
The Open Political Economy Analysis Programme (PEA) celebrates its first birthday on October 1. Based at the University of Oxford, the program produces plain-language, open-access political economy analysis on the constraints holding back growth and development. With support from Coefficient Giving and MacArthur Foundation, its work spans extreme poverty in Malawi, health and education in Nigeria, and civil service reform in Nepal. Read this analysis by Peter J Evans on how to maximize the third wave of philanthropy.
As the Open Government Partnership (OGP) marks its 15th anniversary, OGP Ambassador Helen Clark reflects in Project Syndicate on the future of global cooperation and the role of plurilateral partnerships in strengthening democracy.
Tom Carothers of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace examines the changing role of the United States in global democracy support. He argues that the Trump administration has moved away from previous U.S. pro-democracy policies and adopted several approaches he describes as supportive of autocratic actors.
Eliza Lockhart of the Centre for Finance and Security at RUSI examines lessons from Australia’s experience in “When Donation Caps Collapse: Australia’s Cautionary Tale.” The Centre has also launched a new project examining how think tanks and policy organizations can act as opaque conduits for foreign funding and political influence.
A new report from Global Witness, “Collective Power,” finds that at least 124 land and environmental defenders were killed in 2025. It also documents the rise of non-lethal attacks, including criminalization, harassment, and threats.
The Thinking and Working Politically Community of Practice has published “Plural Futures for Democracy,” an edited volume from its November 2025 workshop in Washington, DC. Edited by Alina Rocha Menocal and Matt Baker, it explores how democracy support can remain politically smart and effective amid democratic backsliding, shifting geopolitics, and shrinking international democracy assistance.
A global survey by Swedwatch, the European Coalition for Corporate Justice, and the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre examines funding cuts facing the business and human rights field. Based on 93 responses from organizations in 40 countries, the piece points to growing pressures on the field. TAI recently held a funder call on the findings and is urging philanthropic attention.
Fourteen Gen Z leaders from Nepal, Kenya, Serbia, Brazil, and the United States recently gathered at the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo to discuss the challenges facing youth-led democratic movements and develop shared strategies for lasting impact. Elected by their peers, the leaders represent movements addressing corruption, weak public services, unemployment, and violence.
The On Think Tanks State of the Sector Report 2026 examines how think tanks are navigating funding pressures, political uncertainty, skills challenges, and rapid technological change. Drawing on responses from 299 think tanks across 94 countries, it offers a global snapshot of the sector. Join the launch on September 24.
What is UNGA, and why does it matter for global development? Devex offers a quick guide to the United Nations General Assembly, from the official meetings and high-level week to the many bilateral meetings and “sideline” events where development conversations also take place.
From Our Members
HUMANITY UNITED: What happens when funders hand decision-making power to the people closest to the challenges they are addressing? In the latest episode of Accountability Lab’s AccountabiliTea, Cheri-Leigh Erasmus speaks with Humanity United’s Carolyn Dallmann and Proximate Futures Fund’s Lior Ipp about shifting power in philanthropy. Watch “Shifting Power: Innovative Approaches to Grantmaking.”
FORD FOUNDATION: Has opened applications for its NYC Good Neighbor Committee grants, offering flexible, unrestricted funding to 10 to 15 New York City nonprofits working in Arts & Culture, Education, or Human Services. The deadline is September 30, 2026.
PACKARD FOUNDATION: How can philanthropy help move clean energy projects from viable to built? Packard’s Prithi Trivedi argues that philanthropic capital can support the people and organizations helping communities understand projects, participate in decisions, and navigate the steps needed to get them built.
ESSENTIAL WATCHING:
The latest installment of Eurodad’s “The Real Cost of Debt” explores debt, austerity, and gender justice in Egypt through the story of Manar Abdelaziz. Watch the video for more insights.
TOOLS AND TRENDS FOR FUNDERS
The Myanmar Centre for Civil Society examines the structural barriers that continue to limit sustainable institutional development for local civil society organizations. “Who Governs Locally Led Development? Power, Delegation, and Local Civil Society” looks at how funding architecture, delegated authority, intermediaries, and funding quality shape locally led development.
The WINGS Ecosystem Builder Awards have announced their 2026 finalists, recognizing the connectors, conveners, funders, and knowledge-builders helping strengthen the philanthropic ecosystem. Meet the finalists.
In the latest Devex podcast, Rumbi Chakamba speaks with Anna Gawel and Catherine Cheney about the Gates Foundation’s latest AI pledge and what to expect from UNGA81. Listen to the episode.
What can nonprofit mergers teach us about organizational survival and change? Stanford Social Innovation Review examines two recent mergers in “Nonprofit Mergers Need More Than Mission Alignment,” looking at the pressures that lead organizations to merge and the challenges that follow.
ESSENTIAL WATCHING:
GFF x CIVIC VOICES has launched a new initiative across 22 countries, bringing together PATH, the African Institute for Development Policy, and the Organisation of African Youth to strengthen the participation and influence of civil society and youth organizations across Africa. Organizations working on health, sustainability, or youth engagement can watch the launch recording and apply for funding.
Focused Topic of the Week
Reclaiming the Information Commons: From Local Newsrooms to Global Capital
Information integrity cannot be treated as an isolated media portfolio, but as foundational civic infrastructure. Sustaining democratic space requires investing simultaneously at both extremes of the information ecosystem: shoring up the hyper-local reporting that nurtures community participation and sustaining the cross-border investigative alliances capable of tracking illicit flows and confronting authoritarian influence. (See TAI’s previous work on this topic.)
Dismantling architectures of narrative control and financial opacity requires an informed and mobilized public, but institutional capture makes that work increasingly fraught. As Foreign Policy documents in Hungary, untangling state-sponsored propaganda from public broadcasting is an arduous task once disinformation becomes embedded in civic institutions. At the same time, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists’ “China Capital” investigation illustrates why transnational reporting networks are essential to modern accountability. The collaborative investigative reporting revealed how the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China deployed London as a financing hub to steer global resource acquisitions and geopolitical alliances, and exposed the mechanics of sovereign influence that operate far beyond the reach of standard regulatory oversight.
Yet, holding national and global actors to account is impossible without a thriving grassroots foundation. As former New York Times executive editor Dean Baquet contends, the extinction of local news outlets is fundamentally weakening social cohesion and disenfranchising communities from public life. When local watchdogs disappear, democratic participation erodes at its root, leaving citizens increasingly susceptible to polarization and top-down manipulation.
Baquet’s ends with a provocation: why philanthropy has yet to support local journalism with the same urgency as other cornerstone civic institutions when the health of governance directly reflects the independence, resilience, and depth of the watchdogs monitoring it.
JOBS
Multiple openings - Hewlett Foundation
Multiple openings - MacArthur Foundation
Multiple Openings - Gates Foundation
Multiple Openings - Social Action, Development Cooperation, Culture, Disability, and Health Sectors in Spain
Multiple Openings - ClimateWorks Foundation
Senior Director, Critical Minerals and Community Positive Energy Transition - World Wildlife Fund.
CALLS
Coefficient Giving has introduced Launchpad Funds, a request for proposals to seed new funds or scale existing ones addressing important, underfunded problems.
The Global South Rising research network is accepting submissions for its third annual symposium. The call includes several governance-related themes and invites contributions examining crisis, mobility, governance, and rights. Deadline: September 30, 2026.
The European Endowment for Democracy provides rolling funding for local democracy organizations in the Eastern Partnership, Middle East and North Africa, and Western Balkans & Turkey.
The Fifth Element invites blog contributions on systems transformation from practitioners and researchers, drawing on both lived experience and analysis across diverse perspectives.
School for Thinktankers, On Think Tanks. February 1-5, 2027.
CALENDAR
Online event: Beneficial Ownership Transparency Evidence Centre launch. Open Ownership. September 23, 2026, from 13:00-14:30 UTCs.
Advancing Information Integrity: Global Learning Through African Experiences. September 25, 2026, from 13:00-14:30.
WINGSForum 2026 in Montreal under the theme "ACT – Activate, Collaborate, Transcend." Save the date, more details to follow in early 2026. September 28-30, 2026.
Athens Democracy Forum. September 29-October 1, 2026.
2026 EITI Global Conference. October 8-9, 2026, Brussels, Belgium.
Climate Defenders Demand Accountability - Accountability Counsel. Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand, 9:00 AM-12:30 PM, October 9, 2026.
2026 OECD Global Forum on Building Trust and Reinforcing Democracy. Paris. October 12-13, 2026.
2026 Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group,October 12-18, 2026.
The 2026 African Philanthropy Forum Conference, "Bridge the Divide; Reimagine the Future," takes place October 25–27 in Cape Town. Those interested in attending can contact [email protected].
Better Politics Foundation Flagship Gathering - Brussels, November 18–20, 2026.
International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. December 1-4, 2026.
We’d love to hear from you on how we can further improve TAI Weekly to better serve your needs in program management on the transparency, accountability, improved grantmaking and civic space. Please direct your feedback to [email protected] or