Earlier this year, we launched a bold new initiative to support rights organizations in the United Kingdom through a fully funded, trauma-informed, resilience-oriented capacity-building program.
Now, as we’ve moved into the next phase—interviews with finalists—we want to share a first look at who applied, what we’re seeing, and why this work feels more urgent than ever.
A Snapshot of the Applicants
We received 22 applications from organizations across the U.K., spanning every region: England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
Their work touches nearly every corner of the rights landscape, including:
- Abolitionist Rights
- Bodily Autonomy and Reproductive Rights
- Climate and Environmental Justice
- Children and Youth Rights
- Economic and Labor Rights
- Elderly and Aging Rights
- FGM, Child Marriage, and Violence Against Women and Girls
- Freedom of Assembly and Speech
- Health and Disability Rights
- Housing Equity and Anti-Poverty
- Immigrant and Refugee Rights
- Indigenous Land and Sovereignty
- LGBTQ+ Rights and Marriage Equality
- Political and Civil Rights
- Prisoners’ and Criminal Justice Rights
- Religious, Ethnic, and Cultural Rights
- Right to Education
- Survivor Rights and Whistleblower Protections
- Women’s Rights and Gender Equality
- Peacebuilding and Conflict Resolution
Applicant organizations ranged in size from 4 to 133 staff, leadership, and volunteers, with an average size of 34.
Meeting This Moment: What We Know
We know from our years of firsthand work alongside rights organizations that the need for deeply embedded practices that foster awareness, sustainability, relational trust, and new ways of being is not theoretical. It’s immediate and deeply felt.
As Lumos founder and Program Lead Nkem Ndefo reflected, the urgency surrounding this work has only grown.
“We’ve been at this a long time—and now, with the rise of authoritarianism in the U.S. and U.K., we’re seeing outright attacks on rights. It’s not benign neglect anymore. It’s not just austerity. These are direct assaults. And to meet this moment, we can’t afford to be fractured. We have to have the skills for coalition, for sustainability, for creative reimagining—often with fewer resources than ever.”
The rise of authoritarianism isn’t just theoretical either. The far-right made significant gains in the U.K.’s most recent elections. In the U.S., attacks on democracy and the rule of law are accelerating at a breathtaking pace.
This initiative was launched to meet these realities head-on, offering practical, embodied tools for organizations to survive—and thrive—beyond crisis.
The work of justice requires bold imagination and decisive action, but it cannot be sustained by replicating the very systems of oppression we seek to dismantle.
It calls for organizations that can stay connected even through challenge—trusting each other, bringing their whole selves to the work, and remembering that we move toward liberation together.
What’s Staying With Us
One thing that has stayed with us through this phase is a feeling of bittersweet clarity.
As Nkem put it:
“Every funder we spoke with in the U.S. said they understood the need for this work. And yet, they couldn’t—or wouldn’t—resource it. Meanwhile, funders in the U.K. said: We see the writing on the wall. We need to do this now before we find ourselves where the U.S. is.”
It raises important questions about the future of progressive funding in the U.S.—and about whether the courage sparked during the 2020 racial uprisings has been lost to fear, inertia, and hesitancy.
“People were brave then,” Nkem said. “They moved differently. They threw aside limiting beliefs and tried new things. Where is that courage now, when we need it even more?”
The truth is, resilience work is rights work. Healing practices, somatic tools, tending to relationships—these are not “nice to have” side projects. They are the essential infrastructure that allow organizations to imagine, build, and sustain liberatory futures. Without them, no strategy, no matter how brilliant, can survive burnout, division, and despair—conditions rights organizations were already facing, now made worse by the spread of authoritarianism.
What’s Next
We are currently in the interview phase with a powerful pool of finalists.
We’ll continue to share updates as the project unfolds—including spotlights on selected organizations and learnings along the way.
Our deepest gratitude to the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, and to every individual supporter in the Lumos community who helped make this initiative possible.
Together, we’re accompanying rights organizations to not only endure these times, but to transform themselves in ways that move us closer to the liberated world we’re working toward.
We get free together.
