Benefits of Participatory Funding

* Report: Who Decides Where Money Goes? The Benefits of Participatory Funding. By Sasha Costanza-Chock, Shivaani Selvaraj, et al. One Project, 2025.

URL = https://oneproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/OneProject_ParticipatoryFunding_12.1.2025.pdf

Typology

Key Models and Their Benefits

• Participatory Budgeting (PB)

• Participatory Grantmaking (PG)

• Participatory Investing (PI)

• Indigenous & Traditional Approaches

Description

“We analyzed the research literature and found evidence of the benefits of four proven models of participatory funding: participatory budgeting, participatory grantmaking, participatory investing, and indigenous/traditional financial mechanisms.

The Evidence for Superior Results The research shows compelling proof that participatory funding works:

• Brazilian cities reduced infant mortality by nearly 20% through sustained participatory budgeting.

• Porto Alegre expanded water and sewage access from 75% to 98% in nine years.

• Community-based lending programs like microfinance and village banking achieved repayment rates above 90% (and in some cases over 95%), while serving low-income, excluded, or marginalized populations.

• Studies from around the world show that community control of capital, when practiced with explicit equity rules, redirects resources to poorer neighborhoods and underserved populations.”