Last Tuesday, The BioFi Project’s first Community of Practice event of 2025 took place. It featured a deep dive on Flow Funding’s role in bioregional finance.
Our 360 Lead Faith Flanigan and Board Chair Ruth Andrade shared insights from the Regenerosity Seed Flow Funds, alongside Kinship Earth Flow Fund’s Executive Director Syd Harvey Griffith.
To skip ahead and watch the recording of the conversation, scroll down.
The conversation highlighted the role of flow funding as a crucial component of Bioregional Financing Facilities (BFFs). This approach enables swift and effective resource allocation towards those who know their communities and territories intimately.
Marion Rockefeller Weber joined the conversation. Her pioneering work in Flow Funding set the foundation for today’s trust-based philanthropy movement. As she powerfully noted:
“This is a time of emergence and emergency and so we need a quick form of understanding how help can go out to people all over the world.”
Marion Rockefeller Weber
Reflections
From theory to practice
The session highlighted real-world examples from both Regenerosity and Kinship Earth’s flow funding programs to decentralize decision-making, empower community leaders to direct funds where they can create the greatest impact for our collective future.
The Regenerosity program, Seed Flow Funds, is an experiment in trust-based philanthropy, placing decision-making in the hands of community leaders, allowing funds to move quickly and flow to where they are needed – using the intrinsic intelligence of the communities we are working with.
Kinship Earth’s Flow Fund builds on Marion Rockefeller Weber’s pioneering model of trust-based philanthropy, established in 1993. By channeling resources through a network of engaged local changemakers, the fund efficiently supports grassroots initiatives and activists.
Connecting Community Wisdom
What makes flow funds particularly powerful is their ability to tap into existing networks and knowledge systems. By trusting local wisdom and supporting grassroots initiatives, these programs create a more dynamic and responsive funding ecosystem. This approach not only streamlines resource distribution but also strengthens community bonds and builds local capacity.
Rethinking Resource Distribution
Flow funding represents more than just a new way to distribute resources—this approach is a fundamental reimagining of how we can work together to support bioregional regeneration. Through these innovative funding mechanisms, we’re seeing the emergence of more equitable, effective, and community-driven approaches to creating positive change.
Flow funds represent a crucial shift in how we think about capital distribution. As a key component of Bioregional Financing Facilities (BFFs), these innovative funding mechanisms harness the collective intelligence of local communities. Rather than imposing top-down decision-making, flow funds empower those with deep place-based knowledge to direct resources where they’re needed most.
Watch the Recording
Missed the live event? The full session recording is available below
This session was part of the monthly BioFi Deep Dive series, where practitioners gather to examine specific design challenges and share real-world experiences in bioregional finance.
Photo by Ezra Jeffrey-Comeau on Unsplash
