The Impact Fund recently made its first ‘Convening Grant’ in the Strengthening Democracy Impact Area.

Disinformation, a lack of regulation and abuses of privacy are just a few of the threats growing in prevalence as the digital world becomes more and more central to our way of life and our democracy. With such big challenges, civil society organisations in this space need philanthropic backing, but few funders are focusing on this emerging space.

In March, the Impact Fund and Mannifera supported key players in digital civil society to come together face-to-face and talk strategy, priorities and coordinated funding opportunities. The day-long workshop – the first time many of these groups had met – was pulled together by Purpose, Responsible Technology Australia and Digital Rights Watch.

We will be communicating the outcomes of this exercise to you in the coming months, which include a map of the digital civil society ecosystem, and eight unique funding opportunities for donors interested in promoting human rights online. In the meantime, one of Responsible Technology Australia’s international backers, Luminate, is matching seed funding contributions dollar for dollar.