Scaling Asia’s Movement

Oct 15

Thrive CEO, grantees, and partners meet for a photo in Bangkok. Vive (Vietnam), Omir Fest (Kazakhstan), Chef Dave (Malaysia), Youth for Just Food Systems (Philippines), Luma Institute (India), One Just World (India), Chani Singh (India).

Thrive Philanthropy’s CEO, Jessika Ava, recently traveled to the AVA Summit in Thailand to sit down with the activists Thrive exists to serve. Over several days, she met current grantees and promising new organizations from across Asia, all working to build just, plant-based food systems in their communities.

These conversations were a reminder of why we show up in person. Grantees shared their wins, their next campaigns, and, just as honestly, what is holding them back. What we heard will shape how Thrive grows in Asia over the coming years.

A growing movement, a widening funding gap

The clearest message emerging from the summit was that food systems change work in Asia is expanding fast. More advocates are launching campaigns, more organizations are forming, and more Asian countries are ready for plant-based solutions.

But funding has not kept pace. Only a handful of grant opportunities exist for plant-based work in the movement, so many of these new groups will turn to Thrive for funding and we expect grant application volume to rise sharply. This means every donor dollar donated now decides how many promising Asian projects we can say yes to!

Thrive has already moved grants to nearly 100 countries, and helped grow nascent movements in 50+ countries (Thrive Impact Page!). Asia is now ready to scale.

Funding alone is not enough

We also heard a second need. Many incoming advocates are passionate and talented, but are still building core skills in fundraising, organizational development, and strategic planning. Without those skills, even well-funded projects struggle to sustain.

That is exactly what Thrive's capacity-building programs are designed to solve:

Thrive Fundraising Accelerator helps advocates diversify income and become fundraising powerhouses.
Cluster Changemakers Accelerator in partnership with One Just World, equips Asia-based advocates with the leadership and organizational foundations to grow sustainably.
With your support we can expand both of these accelerators in 2027 to reach the next wave of leaders across Asia.

The role you play

More applications and more advocates ready to grow is a sign of a movement gaining strength. Whether we can meet that moment depends on our donor partners.

Your gift funds grassroots campaigns that would otherwise go unfunded, and trains the leaders who will carry this vital work forward for years. Every contribution directly expands what Thrive can say yes to.

Donate to Thrive today or join Thrive Community Grantmakers for smallscale support throughout the year.

Thank you for standing with advocates across Asia and around the world. Together, we are building food systems that are just, sustainable, and plant-based!