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You are currently viewing Charity Insights, which explores the landscape from the perspective of social purpose organisations in this country.
Use the toggle below to switch to Donor Insights and view how and why individuals give.


O retrato das organizações da sociedade civil brasileiras revela a sustentabilidade financeira como fator importante para a resiliência, considerando não apenas a diversificação de fontes, mas também a qualidade dos recursos disponíveis. Nesse cenário, destaca-se no Brasil a relevância da filantropia corporativa, com as empresas ocupando papel central no financiamento das organizações. Ao mesmo tempo, mecanismos ainda pouco disseminados, como fundos patrimoniais filantrópicos (endowments), legados e testamentos solidários, apontam caminhos para a construção de maior estabilidade no longo prazo. A experiência internacional reforça o potencial dessas fontes para a resiliência das organizações. Essa discussão passa também pela qualidade do financiamento: recursos mais flexíveis ampliam a capacidade das OSCs de responder às suas necessidades, adaptar estratégias e perseguir seus objetivos com maior autonomia.
A resiliência também depende de confiança, transparência e capacidade de demonstrar e comunicar impacto. O estudo revela uma possível distância entre a percepção das organizações sobre seus principais desafios e aquilo que mobiliza os doadores, para quem a transparência e a comunicação do impacto têm especial importância. Esse achado dialoga diretamente com a Pesquisa Doação Brasil, realizada pelo IDIS, que também aponta a confiança e a clareza sobre a atuação das organizações como elementos fundamentais para fortalecer a relação com quem doa. No Brasil, embora a mensuração de impacto ainda seja um desafio, chama atenção o movimento das organizações para desenvolver estruturas mais consistentes nessa área, indicando disposição para avançar na produção e no uso de evidências sobre seus resultados.
É nesse contexto que o desenvolvimento institucional ganha particular relevância. As organizações brasileiras demandam dos financiadores apoio que vá além do repasse de recursos, incluindo oportunidades de aprendizagem e conexão, apoio estratégico e desenvolvimento de lideranças. Essa necessidade também se manifesta na rotina das organizações, marcada por uma forte dedicação das lideranças às demandas operacionais, muitas vezes em detrimento de questões estratégicas de longo prazo. Fortalecer as OSCs, portanto, significa investir também em governança, estratégia, pessoas, redes, mensuração de impacto e sustentabilidade financeira, com recursos mais flexíveis e apoio adequado às necessidades de cada organização. Mais do que financiar projetos, trata-se de criar condições para que possam planejar, aprender, se adaptar e ampliar seu impacto ao longo do tempo.
The landscape of Brazilian civil society organisations highlights financial sustainability as an important factor in organisational resilience, shaped not only by the diversification of funding sources but also by the quality of the resources available. In this context, corporate philanthropy stands out, with companies playing a central role in funding organisations. At the same time, mechanisms that are still relatively underused, such as endowments, legacies and charitable bequests, offer promising pathways towards greater long-term stability. International evidence reinforces the potential of these funding sources to strengthen organisational resilience. The quality of funding is also an important part of this discussion: more flexible funding gives civil society organisations (CSOs) greater autonomy to respond to their needs, adapt their strategies and pursue their goals.
Resilience also depends on trust, transparency, and the ability to demonstrate and communicate impact. The study points to a potential gap between what organisations perceive as their main challenges and what motivates donors, for whom transparency and impact communication are particularly important. This finding resonates directly with the Brazil Giving Research, conducted by IDIS, which also highlights trust and clarity about organisations' work as essential to strengthening relationships with donors. In Brazil, while impact measurement remains a challenge, organisations are increasingly working to develop more robust frameworks in this area, signaling a willingness to strengthen how they generate and use evidence about their results.
It is in this context that organisational development becomes particularly relevant. Brazilian organisations are calling on funders to provide support that goes beyond financial resources, including opportunities for learning and connection, strategic support, and leadership development. This need is also reflected in organisations' day-to-day operations, with leaders devoting much of their time to operational demands, often at the expense of longer-term strategic priorities. Strengthening CSOs, therefore, means investing in governance, strategy, people, networks, impact measurement and financial sustainability, supported by more flexible funding, and assistance tailored to each organisation's needs. More than funding projects, it means creating conditions for organisations to plan, learn, adapt and expand their impact over time.
Overall, would you say the charity sector in your country is…
Which challenges are most pressing for your organisation? (select the top 3):
How did organisations find coping with this increased demand over the last 12 months?
Which, if any, of these actions have you had to take in order to cope with increasing demand?
The proportion of charities that receive each type of funding:
If you received no more donations or funding from today, how long could you continue operating using only your reserves, any investments or earned income?
How much of your funding is given as ‘restricted’ funds?
Geographically, where does your funding come from?
Aside from giving more money, how could funders empower organisations like yours to do more good?
Which of the following statements, if any, do you feel apply to funders?
Roughly speaking, how much time do you spend on each of the following?
Which of the following would you like to do a better job of engaging ?(select up to two)
How well does civil society in your country collaborate together for the greater good?
What are the barriers to developing your civil society network further?
How effectively do you do the following?
Does your organisation use a formal framework or strategy for capturing and measuring impact?
How trustworthy do you think the people of your country find the following types of organisations?
Overall, do you think the Government is a positive or negative influence on the charitable sector?

IDIS is a civil society organisation founded in 1999 and pioneer in technical support to social investors in Brazil. With the mission to inspire, support and promote strategic philanthropy and its impact, IDIS serves individuals, families, companies, corporate and family run institutes and foundations, as well as with civil society organisations, in actions that transform realities and contribute for the reduction of social inequality in the country.
Our actions are based on the tripod of generating knowledge, offering advisory and developing social impact projects that contribute to the strengthening of the ecosystem of strategic philanthropy and of giving culture. We value partnerships and co-creating, and believe in the power of connection, of joint learning, of diversity and plurality of points of view.