NEWS
December 18, 2025
IN BRIEF
As big donors and NGOs work to reimagine this sector, we’re celebrating groups whose approaches we believe already embody the principles emerging in high-level discussions and reports, such as an investment in youth leadership, a focus on narrative power, and the development of stronger information ecosystems and decentralized funding networks.
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Since the start of our Civil Society Wayfinder online campaign, Accountability Lab has shared the names and profiles of two dozen NGOs working in the democracy, rights, and governance field.
As big donors and NGOs work to reimagine this sector, we’re celebrating groups whose approaches we believe already embody the principles emerging in high-level discussions and reports, such as an investment in youth leadership, a focus on narrative power, and the development of stronger information ecosystems and decentralized funding networks.
We’re pleased to share below the 24 groups that have been featured to date in this word-of-mouth campaign.
You can help. Please comment or repost and highlight the people whose work inspires you and shows the way forward.
We call this project #CivilSocietyWayfinder because, as these groups offer a direction, all of us can help them find the resources they urgently need.
About the campaign
Civil Society Wayfinder is a word-of-mouth campaign supported by data analysis. We have reached out to colleagues – mostly based outside Europe and the US – who recommended small and medium sized NGOs working on rights, democracy and the role of communities in governance and public participation.
To determine recent activity, we have been checking published reports, social posts and news articles. Each selected organization has been notified in advance of their inclusion in this LinkedIn campaign, to ensure both their consent and their availability.
Our initial selection criteria have: a focused on four themes:
Youth and new champions. Groups led by youth or elevating leaders outside electoral politics, such as artists, academics, technologists and faith leaders.
Narrative power. Groups that use storytelling, music, spoken word, digital platforms and other live or broadcast media to leverage narrative power for community outreach, public accountability and participation.
Healthy information ecosystems: Groups promoting more functional media and information systems through community journalism, media literacy, digital literacy, or other online and offline tools to combat disinformation.
Decentralized funding: Groups that rely on diversified or decentralized funding models, by turning to local donors over international funders, for example, or through local outreach and mutual aid.
Read more here about rethinking democracy support in this blog by AL Co-CEO Jean Scrimgeour.
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