Our Approach

Wars, famines, natural disasters, and political and social upheaval can require both an immediate response and an understanding of an often-quickly-changing situation. Major global humanitarian organizations provide necessary support on a massive scale, but there are also opportunities to effect change at an uber-local level.

“We want to make sure our dollars are really having an impact on the ground and are reaching the people who need it most.” This is a common statement we hear – especially during times of massive crisis when the global philanthropic response is strong, and people are uncertain of where and how to invest their support.

There are endless opportunities for western philanthropies to have a meaningful and direct impact in conflict zones. To do so, however, we believe that determining philanthropic needs in these areas must be informed by an on-the-ground assessment of rapidly changing situations, meeting with individuals (both those individuals directly impacted by the crisis and those relief workers responding to the crisis), and engaging local governmental officials to monitor the changing political, social or environmental conditions that may affect how philanthropic support is given or received.

Our philosophy is to build relationships with local NGO partners in conflict zones/crisis areas to identify unmet and pressing needs in those regions, so that we can inform and advise our clients on where their resources can have the most immediate impact – perhaps areas that the larger humanitarian response has overlooked, simply due to the overwhelming demand.

The areas we recommend for support are entirely identified by the voices of those living through the crisis and the professionals leading the local humanitarian response.

We Do This By…

  • Spending time on frontlines to gain the best understanding of everyday needs in conflict zones or crisis areas. Depending on the situation, this could range from weeks to months.

  • Engaging in community-based needs assessments (interviews with civilians, NGOs, relief/humanitarian workers, political leaders, religious leaders, local and international journalists, and others depending on the situation).

  • Generating extensive reports of our findings and recommendations for support (whether philanthropic or other vehicles for support, as determined).

  • Putting a human face to conflict for our clients’ internal stakeholders (boards of directors, employees, etc.). This includes photographic documentation of situations, written or video (conditions permitting) of individuals’ personal experiences, quotes and short narratives of life in during the crisis.

  • Determining, as best as possible, the changing political and social landscape to better understand the current and future trajectory of the conflict or crisis.

  • Aligning foundations, corporations, individuals’ funding focus areas and interests with support needs in conflict or crisis zones.

  • Identifying local NGOs with whom our clients can continue to engage throughout the situation – or with whom we can continue to engage on behalf of clients. 

  • Building local, trusted relationships to sustain our clients’ philanthropic investments – and to potentially expand support into longer-term investments.