The Global Fund for Children (GFC) has announced a partnership with Comic Relief, the National (UK) Lottery Community Fund, the Oak Foundation, and Porticus in support of global efforts to prevent abuse and exploitation.

Housed at and administered by GFC, the Funder Safeguarding Collaborative will connect funders working in the space to free webinars, discussion forums, and a resource library and will also provide tailored fee-based support, an advice hotline, and consultations. Membership in the collaborative will be open to charitable trusts and foundations, intermediary funders that dedicate at least 50 percent of their budgets to grantmaking and grantee support, and funder networks that include safeguarding as part of their work.

As part of a broader effort to shift decision-making power in philanthropy and foster trust-based funder-grantee relationships, FSC will work to engage community-based civil society organizations, researchers, government agencies, and individuals with lived experience. To that end, it will launch a pilot program in Uganda.

"We know that an abundance of knowledge and expertise already exists within civil society organizations and the communities they serve," said FSC director Karen Walker-Simpson. "The FSC will act as a catalyst for change by creating shared spaces to listen and learn from others and opportunities for funders to invest in positive practices."