Rebecca Darwent
Montréal, Québec, Canada
Rebecca Darwent Global
LinkedIn
Contact: rebecca@rebeccadarwent.com
she/her
Most often works with: Family Foundations, Private Foundations, Individual Donors/DAF Holders, Intermediary Grantmaking Organizations, Pooled Fund/Donor Circle, Philanthropy Serving Organizations, Family Offices, Multi-Family Offices
Challenges most often addressed:
Many clients come to RDG wanting to move their giving beyond transactional grants and build real trust and shared power with the communities they fund. RDG helps families, family offices, foundations, and DAF holders navigate that shift to deploy their full resources, capital, networks, and influence, to community-led solutions.
RDG supports clients to navigate scenarios such as multigenerational wealth transfer without a clear governance structure, spend-down decisions, questions of how, when, and where to deploy capital before sunset, and how to engage in collaborative funding approaches.
Rebecca Darwent is the founder of Rebecca Darwent Global (RDG), a philanthropic advisory practice working with families, family offices, and foundations to move capital toward community-led solutions.
In 2020, she co-founded the Foundation for Black Communities (FFBC), leading the advocacy and relationship building that mobilized over $225 million in community-led capital, that resulted in a historic $200 million capital transfer to FFBC by the Canadian government and $25 million from philanthropic partners.
Her viral TED Talk, “How to Fund Real Change in Your Community,” reached over a million viewers and showcases collaborative funding models. Her clients and collaborators include the Gates Foundation, Trottier Foundation, and the Ms. Lauryn Hill Fund, as well as private donors and families. She is also the co-founder of Wealth Currents, a quarterly publication and companion for a generation of women coming into significant wealth.
Rebecca is a certified Impact Philanthropy Advisor, holds 21/64 certification, and serves as faculty at Daylight Advisors, where she co-authored the Collaborative Giving Certificate. Rebecca serves on the Board of Directors of FFBC and is an advisor to Carleton University’s Women in Philanthropy program. She is a 2025 World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, a Women Leader for the World Fellow, and a Canadian Millennium Laureate.
Rebecca splits her time between Montreal (traditional and unceded territory of the Kanien'kehà:ka Nation) and Kigali, where she spends extended time with her young family.
