September 15, 2026
Dear readers,
Reforming debt frameworks, mining accountability, reflexive governance and increasing endowment payouts - these are just a few of the topics in this Weekly, plus a deep dive on tax.
But we start with a piece building on the trends in climate change litigation. Antonio Vizcaya Abdo digs into what‘s happening and finds that when climate governance fails, demands for accountability are increasingly ending up in court.
Happy reading!
What's New
Open Ownership is launching a new Beneficial Ownership Transparency (BOT) Evidence Centre on September 23. The searchable resource brings together research, investigations, country cases, and other evidence on the impact of BOT reform. The public database aims to make existing evidence easier to find, support evidence-based policy, and contributes to a better understanding of what works in BOT reform.
Want to understand “reflexive governance”? Want to know how it exacerbates detrimental impacts of sand mining? Read this new study centered on Zimbabwe. Authors conclude that governance systems lack the adaptability needed to address unemployment-driven informality and recommend formalising informal sand mining, strengthening stakeholder engagement, and enhancing institutional capacity for sustainable mining practices.
Save the Children UK and Debt Justice have published “Six Reforms for the G20 Common Framework for Debt Treatments,” calling for changes to strengthen the international approach to sovereign debt restructuring. Rez Baqir also sees the need for reform - calling for a more coherent and transparent frameworks. He outlines three principles for a new approach, including lower haircuts for creditors that lent at lower rates.
Several accountability and trust-related initiatives are among the 40 final featured projects selected for the next Paris Peace Forum, including projects from Accountability Counsel and Southern Africa Resource Watch. The projects will feature in the Space for Solutions at the Forum’s 9th edition, taking place November 10-11 in Paris under the theme “From Sovereignty to Cooperation.”
The UK's overhaul of anti-money laundering supervision for legal, accountancy, and trust and company service providers is moving through Parliament. Veronica Stratford-Tuke of the Centre for Finance and Security at RUSI argues that success will depend on authorities’ ability to understand 60,000 diverse firms, set clear risk tolerance, and rebuild trust with industry.
A new dispute mechanism is giving communities in Peru a way to challenge Chinese-backed mining developments, but it may already have failed its first test. Dialogue Earth examines the case and the challenges communities face in holding powerful mining interests to account, despite efforts of accountability groups.
Posts from the sixth Africa Conference on Debt and Development point to a common message from the Afrodad team: Africa's negotiating position is stronger when borrowers coordinate, workers are included, and the fine print is carefully examined before agreements are signed.
In “Beyond organisational strength: Civil society's next test,” Chris Proulx and Kim Kucinskas argue that the next challenge for civil society is strengthening its capacity to act collectively. As organizations face funding collapse, closures, disappearing expertise, and difficult decisions about what to preserve, they suggest that the current pressures should be understood as a structural break rather than a temporary downturn.
Leopoldo Maldonado Gutiérrez has been announced as the new United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression. He has launched a “Call for Inputs” on the strategic priorities and vision-setting of the mandate, seeking perspectives and experiences on where the mandate can have the greatest impact. The deadline for submissions is October 31, 2026.
The Global Civil Society Coalition for the Environmental Crime and Corruption Working Group of the UN Convention Against Corruption has released a guide intended to help civil society organizations translate commitments under the Conference of State Parties into policy and action at national, regional, and global levels.
CLIMA Fund's latest thematic brief examines how armed conflict and militarism affect climate justice. Drawing on the experiences of climate justice movements working in areas affected by radioactive waste, oil spills, and war, the brief considers what these connections mean for climate philanthropy and how funders can support grassroots movements addressing the systems behind ecological destruction and social instability.
From Our Members
MACARTHUR FOUNDATION: Is extending its commitment to a 6 percent payout rate through 2028. Will other foundations follow suit?
HEWLETT FOUNDATION & OPEN SOCIETY FOUNDATIONS: How can philanthropy foster constructive dialogue across political and social divides? Presidents Amber Miller and Binaifer Nowrojee join with Andrew Carnegie Foundation President Dame Louise to discuss philanthropy's role in strengthening connection across differences. Watch the conversation.
FORD FOUNDATION: Tony Bebbington, International Program Director for Natural Resources and Climate Justice, argues that resource governance is no longer only a question of who gains and who loses. It is a question of what is allowed to live, by whose authority and on what ethical grounds.
ESSENTIAL LISTENING:
The Kindle Project, a philanthropic intermediary focused on shifting power in grantmaking, has launched Misgivings!, a new podcast that examines what is wrong with mainstream philanthropy while giving space to bold alternatives and solutions. The podcast offers conversations about the structures, practices, and assumptions shaping philanthropy today.
TOOLS AND TRENDS FOR FUNDERS
An estimated $124 trillion is expected to transfer between generations by 2048. Wendy Paris asks whether this enormous transfer of wealth will also bring a meaningful shift in philanthropic values, or whether the changes will be more about style than substance.
Last week we featured Vu Le's critique of funder panels, and this week we see Todd Moss takes aim at boring think tank events. His suggestions are useful for philanthropy convenings, too, and point to how funders can make spaces more engaging and worthwhile. (Hopefully, those planning events during UNGA and New York Climate Week are listening!)
Sarah Murray explores philanthropy's complicated relationship with AI in the Financial Times. Some philanthropists are using AI to pursue social goals, others are focused on the perceived existential risks associated with the technology, while others are generating new wealth through AI. The piece considers what these different approaches could mean for philanthropy.
Is it okay for nonprofits to take tainted money? Speaking to Devex, activist Kavita Nandini Ramdas argues that accepting elite funding should not require organizations to remain silent about harmful actions. She calls instead for nonprofits to pair funding with accountability and retain an obligation to speak openly when an action or intervention conflicts with their values.
Focused Topic of the Week
Who Should Pay? Progressive Thinking Wealth, Taxation, and Public Revenue
A few weeks ago, we looked at how opacity can weaken public finances from both sides, allowing revenue to slip away while limiting governments' room to borrow. The question of who pays, and how much, is just as important. Recent developments in tax policy point to a growing willingness to revisit how wealth and income are taxed, while new evidence is challenging some of the arguments traditionally used against higher taxes on the wealthy.
The OECD's Tax Policy Reforms 2026 examines reforms introduced or announced across 92 jurisdictions and finds a broad trend toward more progressive tax systems, including higher personal income tax rates and greater taxation of capital income. That shift comes as governments face growing pressure to raise revenue while responding to inequality and changing economic conditions.
But does taxing the wealthy actually drive them away? New Internal Revenue Service data from New York challenges that familiar argument. Common Dreams reports that the number of New Yorkers reporting more than $1 million in income grew by around 3% after the state raised its top tax rate, with roughly 2,000 more millionaires in 2023 than the previous year. The figures add to questions about how much weight should be given to the "tax flight" argument in debates over progressive taxation.
Turning to Kenya, calls are growing to tax the country's ultra-rich. The Star, reporting on Oxfam's latest Inequality Report, notes that 125 individuals in Kenya own more wealth than 42.6 million people. In a country facing significant public financing needs, the question is not simply whether wealth can be taxed, but whether existing tax systems are asking enough of those with the greatest capacity to contribute.
These questions are also playing out at the international level, where the UN Tax Convention could reshape the rules governing how countries raise revenue. The Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights argues that the Convention is only the beginning: its impact on public services, care, and human rights will depend on sustained civil society participation. Drawing on lessons from climate governance and its “Taxing for the Common Good” trainings with Public Services International, GI-ESCR calls for accessible information, stronger collaboration across movements, national advocacy, and long-term, flexible funding so organizations, particularly in the Global South, can engage meaningfully in shaping the Convention and its implementation.
For a strong Convention outcome, a mix of expertise needs to be assembled before details get locked in. This extends to those well-versed in international law. The GI-ESCR team remind us that how the new Convention interacts with existing tax agreements could have significant implications for its eventual effectiveness.
As we enter the final negotiating stages, the debate is increasingly about more than tax rates. It is about who gets to shape the distribution of resources, and whether the resulting systems can deliver the public revenue needed to support more equitable societies.
Stay tuned for a TAI funder call examining what’s at stake around the Convention and opportunities to protect ambition in the last months of negotiations. For an immediate reminder of the state of play see Eurodad’s helpful summary.
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
Call for Papers: Fiscal Policy and Sustainable Development in the Global South - LSE International Inequalities Institute and UNU-WIDER. The academic workshop will take place November 6 in London and will explore fiscal policy design, informal employment, ecological and energy transitions, and fiscal digitalization and governance. Deadline: September 20, 2026.
NED Grants 2026 - National Endowment for Democracy. Funding is available for NGOs, civil society organizations, independent media, and other nongovernmental organizations working on human rights, democratic institutions, independent media, transparency, civic participation, and related priorities worldwide. Deadline: September 21, 2026.
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
Seeds of the Next Economy, a three-part dialogue series for civil society leaders, funders, and innovators hosted by Spring, a global capacity accelerator. September 17, October 1, and October 15, 2026, 9:00-10:30 AM EDT.
Climate Week NYC. September 20-27, 2026.
From Hidden Wealth to Public Trust: Reclaiming Our Democracy. FACT Coalition. September 22, 2026, from 3:00-4:30 PM.
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.
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