Resilience Grants

Resilience
Grants

RESILIENCE
GRANTS

Women’s funds, particularly national women’s funds in the Global South, are a main source of funding for grassroots gender justice movements. However, they are chronically underfunded— a reality that hinders progress in advancing gender justice, especially in a world facing various polycrises.

Have you wondered what happens when women’s funds are resilient? And what happens when power is shared in grantmaking? We’ve documented these developments and invite you to explore these vital questions in our report on resilience.

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With the onset of COVID-19, the 2021-2022 Resilience Grants allowed the Fenomenal Funds to respond in ways that would have been impossible with a different model.

These grants supported women’s funds within the Prospera International Network of Women’s Funds, enabling them to build and strengthen the infrastructure, knowledge, systems, and capacities they prioritized to achieve their missions.

Reimagining Power to Build Resilience is a report that shares highlights and learnings from the Fenomenal Funds’ model, showcasing its capacity to disrupt traditional power relationships in philanthropy—particularly focusing on how we achieved this.

Investing in Impact: Our Funded Partners

Africa

African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF)
Fonds pour les Femmes Congolaises
Urgent Action Fund-Africa
Women’s Fund Tanzania
XOESE, the Francophone Women’s Fund
Doria Feminist Fund

“Money is a political resource — who gets it and what it funds determines how much closer we get to a gender-just world.”

— Dr. Awino Okech, African Feminist Scholar at the SOAS University of London

In Africa, women’s funds members of the Prospera INWF have pushed for greater recognition that a diverse African feminist movement requires resources for multiple issues and strategies to advance the vision for women’s rights. After years of pushing for more and better resources for its movements, women’s funds still face constraints in accessing funding. Yet the African feminist movement continues to grow and push back against the multiple systems of oppression that face women on the continent. As Valerie Bah and Felogene Anumo noted in their article, You Can’t Take Politics Out of the Struggle, “From student-led protests in South Africa, to feminist mobilization against the “Kill the Gays” bill in Uganda, to resisting autocracy in Egypt, fierce feminist leadership is mobilizing across the continent.”

Responding to the diversity of African women’s movements, women’s funds work to secure women’s rights from all corners of the continent.

Resilience Grants priorities:

Staff salaries and skills building
Financial reserves

Asia and the Pacific

Women’s Funds Fiji
Korean Foundation for Women
Mongolian Women’s Fund (MONES)
Women’s Fund Asia

“The feminist philanthropy movement in Asia and the Pacific, in addition to mobilizing resources that are guided by feminist principles, engages with resources politically, disrupting power relationship of those that give and those that claim, as well as ensuring that the mystery of resource control is made transparent and visible.”

— Tulika Srivastava, Executive Director of Women’s Fund Asia

Like so many of the other regions, the feminist movement in Asia and the Pacific is diverse and vibrant with feminists of different ages, classes, and genders. Working within and across national boundaries, feminists in Asia and the Pacific continue to push against diverse issues like patriarchal structures, unequal division of care work while they fight for workers’ rights, economic justice, climate justice, safety, and reproductive rights.

In response to the growing feminist movement, the first women’s fund in Asia was established in 1995. Since then, the region has seen an increase in the number of women’s funds resourcing feminist movements at national and regional levels. In 2019, they came together in a unique partnership, where they defined a shared vision for feminist funding that is flexible and transformative for the Asia and Pacific region.

In Asia and the Pacific, women’s funds members of Prospera INWF work toward realizing their feminist funding manifesto, and are also mindful about how they build their internal capacities.

Resilience Grants priorities:

Staff salaries and skills building
Technical support for communications
Resource mobilization
Safety and wellness

Europe

Bulgarian Fund for Women
Calala Fondo de Mujeres
Femfund Poland
Ecumenical Women’s Initiative
Filia Die Frauenstiftung
Mediterranean Women’s Fund
Reconstruction Women’s Fund
Taso Foundation
Ukranian Women’s Fund
Women’s Fund Armenia
Women’s Fund Georgia

“If we can’t gain, we need to hold the ground. If we can’t protest, even in small ways we go out to protest. Being visible is our main goal. We can’t leave the streets to them.”

— Turkish activist

In response to the rise in authoritarianism and illiberal populism in the region, feminist movements in Central and Eastern Europe have responded by mobilizing powerful protests that signal a strong movement to protect the rights of women and LGBTQI people. We know that movements are only as powerful as the work that has been done to mobilize collective power before the moment of protest. And that ongoing work requires funding.

Women’s funds are at the forefront of supporting collective organizing. Working across national, regional, and multi-regional levels, women’s funds across Europe are connected to and embedded within national feminist movements.

Resilience Grants priorities:

Staff salaries and skills building
Technical support for communications
Resource mobilization
Digital security
Physical safety via secure spaces and mobility (vehicles)

Latin America

Apthapi-Jopueti Bolivian Women’s Fund
Elas Fundo de Investimento Social
Fondo Centroamericano de Mujeres – Fcam
Fondo Alquimia
Fondo Mujeres del Sur
Fondo Lunaria Mujer
Fondo Semillas
Vida AfroLatina

“To adequately respond to the ongoing crisis of democracy, we must support care and protection strategies for activists.”

— Mónica Enríquez-Enríquez, Program Officer for Mesoamerica, Foundation for a Just Society, and in memory of Tatiana Cordero Velásquez, former Executive Director of Urgent Action Fund — Latin America & Caribbean, whose dedication and work continue to inspire us.

While feminist movements in Latin America have achieved major wins in areas such as reproductive justice — including the legalization of abortion in Argentina — women and gender-diverse activists continue to fight for their rights and their lives.

In a region with one of the highest rates of femicide, care, and protection is not something nice to have, it’s essential. Women’s funds are at the forefront of thinking about how to fund and support women’s human rights defenders in ways that integrate care and protection into their work.

Resilience Grants priorities:

Staff salaries
Staff health and wellbeing
Crisis funds
Digital security
Financial resilience

Multi-Regional

Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice
Equality Fund
FRIDA | The Young Feminist Fund
Global Fund for Women
International Indigenous Women’s Fund (IIWF-AYNI)
Mama Cash
Urgent Action Fund for Women’s Human Rights
Women Win

“The resources that fuel feminist social change come in many forms — financial, political, and in daily acts of resistance, care, survival, and building new feminist realities.”

— AWID, Toward a Feminist Funding Ecosystem

Varied in size, history, and geographic location, the multi-regional women’s funds play an important role in the feminist funding ecosystem. They mobilize resources and advocate in both funding spaces and international policy platforms. As larger organizations, they also demonstrate that women’s funds have the absorptive capacity required to channel greater resources to feminist movements.

Multi-regional women’s funds also contribute to building the ecosystem by partnering with and supporting emergent women’s funds. Some also channel resources to specific populations within the feminist movement, such as young feminists and Indigenous women.

Resilience Grants priorities:

People – staff capacity
Organizational infrastructure
Resource mobilization
Human resources systems
Self-care plans
Grants management systems

How Do We Work

Women’s funds on the Steering and Advisory Committees designed a non-competitive grants process to enable women’s funds to invest in their internal strengthening and wellbeing.

Our model consists of a pooled fund; shared governance between private foundations and women’s funds; and feminist, participatory grant-making.

Core Elements of Resilience Grants

Glossary Insights and Curiosities Hypotheses

What sets feminist grantmaking apart? It’s our focus on principles of care, equity and collaboration, ensuring funds reach those driving meaningful change.

Resilience isn’t just about surviving; it’s about thriving. Women's Funds demonstrate resilience by continually evolving, rising to moments of opportunity, and remaining responsive to the needs of their communities.

What does "power with" look like in practice? It’s the collective power achieved when we work together, fostering collaboration and shared goals.

A polycrisis refers to the intersection of multiple crises, where their combined impact is greater than the sum of individual effects.

Within our partners, non-competitive funding means leveling the playing field for all Women's Funds, ensuring everyone benefits from available resources.

At the heart of democratizing philanthropy is the idea of shared power. By bringing Women's Funds and donors together, we create a platform for equitable and inclusive decision-making.

When organizations collaborate and share power, it leads to a clearer vision and shifts in priorities. Our Resilience Grant Report explores how this collective approach creates new opportunities and drives meaningful change.

Our research has sparked curiosity about trust and relationship building. How can these elements foster stronger connections and accountability?

How do investments in organizational infrastructure contribute to resilience? This question emerged from our grant making process. We’re curious to explore how focusing on foundational aspects can help organizations thrive.

How can we move from "power over" to "power with"? We’re exploring what it takes to create collective practices that prioritize collaboration and equity.

Could the resilience of Women’s Funds lead to stronger organizations, greater adaptability, and more meaningful support to feminist movements? Our report hypothesizes this potential.

How does sharing power influence grantmaking outcomes? This is the question we’re exploring in our Resilience Grant Report. Do women’s funds and foundations truly exercise equal power in setting agendas and distributing resources?

Spread the Word

Reimagining Power to Build Resilience offers valuable insights into how the Fenomenal Funds’ model is transforming philanthropy by challenging traditional power dynamics. By sharing our journey and the lessons we’ve learned, we hope to inspire meaningful change.

If this resonates with you, share this page or the report with your network. Together, we can amplify these ideas and build a more equitable future.

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