Community-Led, Globally Connected: Celebrating The T1D Community Fund’s Inaugural Cohort

Flexible, trust-based funding and what it made possible for community T1D leaders worldwide

When Panorama Global and The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust launched the The Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) Community Fund in 2022, the premise was simple but radical: community organizations closest to the problem are best positioned to address local challenges, if given the resources and trust to do so.

In March 2023, 16 organizations across 14 countries became the inaugural cohort. Over three years, these community leaders proved the premise correct. They leveraged funding and a community of peers to expand access to T1D care and amplify the voices of people living with T1D in their communities.

A Different Kind of Grant

From the start, The T1D Community Fund was designed to support not just what organizations were doing, but their capacity to keep doing the critical, and often lifesaving, work to advance T1D care.

Alongside flexible, unrestricted funding, grantee partners deepened their T1D networks, exchanged knowledge with peers, and shaped global advocacy priorities. Through travel fellowships, grassroots leaders gained opportunities to attend regional and global conferences, like the Noncommunicable Diseases Alliance Forum, and virtual sessions focused on issues such as organizational development, monitoring and evaluation, advocacy, communications, and fundraising, strengthened organizational capacity.

Together with the second T1D Community Fund cohort of partners, these grantees co-authored A Global Call to Action to Advance Type 1 Diabetes Care, ensuring their voices shaped the global advocacy dialogue. Panorama guided the co-creation process with partners, aligning under a shared goal to develop a powerful advocacy tool that all partners could stand behind.

This combination of financial resources plus relationships, capacity strengthening, and practical tools, guided by grantee insights and ecosystem gaps, illustrates the power of genuine partnership in scaling impact globally while staying locally rooted.

Three Years of Impact

Three years in, the numbers reflect what happens when community-based organizations are trusted and resourced.

• 88 percent expanded their reach, connecting more children and families to care
• 75 percent strengthened advocacy engagement, contributing to national and global policy conversations
• 93 percent rated flexible funding as ‘very positive,’ underscoring how important this approach is to enable responsive, community-led work
• 88 percent rated peer learning, skills-building, and global connections as positive or very positive, highlighting the value of learning alongside peers

That ninety-three percent response is more than a high rating of a funding program—flexibility is what made the difference, allowing grantee partners to respond to their communities’ real needs.

In Venezuela, the impact went beyond programming for partner Guerreros Azules. The ability to cover core operating costs—often overlooked by other donors—allowed them to maintain digital infrastructure and build a professional database. And the credibility of being a T1D Community Fund grantee opened doors that had previously been closed.

The value of connection proved equally powerful: a reminder that what organizations gain from each other can be as valuable as what any funder provides.

Guerreros Azules team and T1D kids in Venezuela

What This Cohort Has Taught Us

As the inaugural T1D Community Fund cohort, these partners have surfaced where deeper investments can make a difference for community-based organizations.

• 38 percent leveraged additional funding beyond The T1D Community Fund
• 25 percent strengthened fundraising strategies to a large extent
• 13 percent significantly strengthened monitoring and evaluation systems

While thirty-eight percent of grantees were able to leverage additional funding beyond The T1D Community Fund—a meaningful result, and a signal that the groundwork for sustainability is being laid—fewer organizations reported significant gains in fundraising strategy or monitoring and evaluation systems.

This reflects a broader reality and opportunities for targeted support: building organizational infrastructure takes time and sustained investment. These findings directly inform how The T1D Community Fund supports newer cohorts, including the 40 partner organizations that joined in 2024 and 2025.

A Foundation for What Follows

Since 2022, the T1D Community Fund has supported 55 organizations in 37 countries. The first cohort of partners helped validate the premise of trust-based, cohort-driven funding—their experiences and feedback shaped the program's evolution, and their work continues to set a strong example of what community-led solutions can accomplish with the right support.

To the 16 organizations from the inaugural cohort: thank you for your work toward advancing equitable T1D care worldwide—and for what your experiences continue to teach us about doing this work well, together.