Initiative for digital rights

What Initiative for digital rights does

Indela (Iniciativa por los Derechos Digitales en Latinoamérica) is a multi-donor philanthropic initiative founded in 2019 and based in Panama City, Panama, that funds and supports civil society organizations working to advance digital rights across Latin America. The initiative was established as an alliance between Fundación Avina, Luminate, and Open Society Foundations (OSF) as the three strategic directors, with Ford Foundation and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) as supporting funders, and the European Union later joining as a supporting partner in 2023 for country-specific work in Panama. Between 2019 and 2021, Indela deployed an initial fund pool of USD 1.5 million to support grantee organizations.

The initiative's core mechanism is its Open Call for Proposals (Convocatoria Abierta), through which it selects and funds projects focused on privacy, freedom of expression, data protection, online gender-based violence, and mass surveillance. Grants have ranged from up to USD 75,000 per project in the 2019 inaugural call (12-18 months) to USD 25,000 per project in the 2021 and 2023 cycles (6-18 months). Selected organizations also receive non-financial consultancy services covering communications, litigation strategy, security, fundraising, and policy development, plus access to regional and international networks. Projects are evaluated by an expert panel of regional specialists. Indela operates a tri-lingual website (Spanish, English, Portuguese) and maintains an active presence on Twitter/X and Facebook.

Indela's business model is purely philanthropic: it does not develop proprietary technology, does not charge fees, and does not generate revenue from products or services. Between 2019 and 2022 the initiative supported 20 projects across 22 organizations in 10 Latin American countries, and by 2023 had expanded its model to include country-specific open calls in addition to its regional program. The organization is governed collectively by its three founding strategic directors and operates as a non-profit alliance rather than a conventional corporate entity.

Name

Initiative for digital rights

Legal name

Indela (Iniciativa por los Derechos Digitales en Latinoamérica)

Website

https://indela.fund

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Indela (Iniciativa por los Derechos Digitales en Latinoamérica) is a Panama-based multi-donor philanthropic initiative that funds and supports Latin American civil society organizations working on digital rights through open grant calls, financial grants, and consultancy services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Digital Rights Philanthropic Grantmaking

NAICS

Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321), Human Rights Organizations (813311), Social Advocacy Organizations (8133)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYBPAGAKAE

Public Charities & Grantmaking Intermediaries

Business & Public Services/Nonprofit, NGO & Social Services/Philanthropy, Foundations & Grantmaking

Keywords

• Digital rights funding
• Grantmaking initiatives
• Civil society support
• Philanthropic grants
• Nonprofit funding programs

Headquarters

HQ city

Panama City

HQ country

Panama

HQ region

Latin America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Grant Disbursements: Indela operates as a philanthropic initiative that disburses grant funding to selected civil society organizations in Latin America working on digital rights. Funding is provided through periodic open calls, with selected projects receiving financial support ranging from USD 25,000 (2021/2023 calls) to USD 75,000 (2019 inaugural call), typically over 6 to 18-month project periods. Payments are disbursed in accordance with the fulfillment of agreed project goals and deliverables.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Indela is a regional philanthropic initiative that funds and supports Latin American civil society organizations working to advance digital rights. Through periodic open calls for proposals, it provides financial grants (typically USD 25,000-75,000) to selected projects focused on privacy, freedom of expression, access to knowledge, data protection, and digital gender-based violence, and complements these grants with non-financial consultancy services in communications, litigation strategy, security, fundraising, and policy development. Selected organizations are evaluated by an expert panel of regional specialists.

Product overview

Indela (Iniciativa por los Derechos Digitales en Latinoamérica) is a regional funding initiative—not a software product—designed to strengthen the digital rights ecosystem in Latin America. Its core offering is the Open Call for Proposals (Convocatoria Abierta), which provides financial grants of up to USD 25,000 to Latin American organizations working on human rights affected by digital technologies. This grant program is complemented by non-financial support services including specialized consultancy (communications, litigation strategy, security, fundraising, policy development) and access to regional networks. Projects are evaluated by an Expert Panel of regional specialists. The initiative focuses on privacy, freedom of expression, access to knowledge, data protection, and digital gender violence.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Open Call for Proposals (Convocatoria Abierta) Indela's primary grantmaking mechanism that solicits and selects projects from legally established Latin American organizations working on digital rights. Proposals focus on public campaigns, applied research, and public policy advocacy at national or regional levels and are evaluated by an expert panel of regional specialists.
• Financial Grants (Apoyo Financiero) Direct funding disbursed to selected civil society organizations in Latin America, with amounts of up to USD 25,000 (2021/2023 calls) to USD 75,000 (2019 inaugural call) for project periods of 6 to 18 months. Payments are disbursed in accordance with the fulfillment of agreed project goals and deliverables.
• Consultancy Services (Servicios de Consultoría) Non-financial support services provided to selected grantee organizations to strengthen institutional capacity and project impact, covering communications, litigation strategy development, security, fundraising, and organizational policy development.
• Network Access (Acceso a Redes) Facilitates connections and collaboration among supported grantee organizations, enabling knowledge sharing, peer exchange, and collective action within the Latin American digital rights ecosystem.
• Expert Panel Review Evaluation of submitted project proposals by a panel of regional experts in digital rights, telecommunications regulation, human rights defense, and Internet policy research as part of Indela's selection process.

Quantifiable outcome

• Supported 20 projects from 22 organizations across 10 Latin American countries between 2019 and 2022.
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers13 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Ford Foundation: Ford Foundation is a major international grantmaker with substantial digital rights programming globally. As a current Indela supporter, it represents both a partner and a broader-incumbent funder operating overlapping programs.
• Mozilla Foundation: Mozilla Foundation funds fellowships, advocacy, and research on internet health, including digital rights. It is a broad-incumbent funder operating an overlapping mission space with global reach.
• Open Society Foundations: OSF is one of the world's largest private foundations, with a global digital freedom portfolio. As a strategic director of Indela, it operates overlapping programs at significantly larger scale across many regions.
• Luminate: Luminate is an international philanthropic organisation that funds civic engagement, digital rights, and accountable governance. As a strategic director of Indela, it is a natural comparator in mission and grantee portfolio.
• Fundación Avina: Fundación Avina is a Latin American foundation supporting sustainable development and civil society. As a strategic director of Indela, it is a key peer funder with broader thematic scope across the region.
• Wikimedia Foundation: Wikimedia Foundation funds initiatives that align with free knowledge and digital rights, including grants for movement organizing and policy advocacy. It is a comparable global grantmaker with thematic overlap in digital rights and knowledge access.
• Internews: Internews is a large international non-profit supporting independent media and digital rights, with grantmaking and capacity-building programs in multiple regions including Latin America — broader in scope than Indela but operating in adjacent funding territory.

Direct peers

• Access Now: Access Now is a global digital rights organization that provides grants, advocacy support, and emergency response to civil society groups defending digital rights — closely analogous to Indela's funding-plus-support model, with overlapping grantee communities in Latin America.
• Derechos Digitales: Derechos Digitales is a Latin American digital rights organization that conducts research, advocacy, and litigation across the region. It is highly relevant as a regional peer and a likely Indela applicant or ecosystem partner.
• Association for Progressive Communications (APC): APC is a global network and grantmaker focused on digital rights, internet governance, and online freedom, particularly in the Global South. It is a direct comparator in funding digital rights civil society across multiple regions.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/fondo_INDELA
• Facebookfacebook.com/fondoIndela
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/indela-fund

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Initiative for digital rights