By Phoebe So and Shama Dossa originally published on  Alliance, June 2, 2025

As we approach the sunset of Fenomenal Funds in June 2025, we find ourselves reflecting deeply on the journey of this innovative feminist funding collaborative.

Launched in 2020 with a bold vision to shift power and resources to feminist movements in the Global South, Fenomenal Funds has been an experiment in trust-based philanthropy, participatory grantmaking, and investing in the long-term resilience of feminist funds and the ecosystems they sustain.

This article shares reflections from the co-leads of Fenomenal Funds (Shama Dossa and Phoebe So), structured around the key shifts in governance, grantmaking, and learning that made feminist collaboration possible in practice.

Over the past five years, we have had the privilege of co-shaping and co-leading this initiative, working alongside our partners to move over US$20 million to 44 women’s funds across five continents. But what made our approach truly different was not just the what, but the how:

• Shared governance: Four private foundations pooled funding governed jointly with Prospera International Network of Women’s Funds members
• Participatory decision-making: Centering power-literate, partner-led processes rather than donor-driven agendas
• Infrastructure as strategy: Investing in organisational resilience as a core approach rather than a side benefit
• Learning through collaboration: Supporting 15 funded ‘Collaboration Initiatives’ among women’s funds across thematic areas

Our approach has been grounded in a set of core feminist values: a deep belief in the wisdom and leadership of movements, a commitment to redistributing power, a willingness to be vulnerable, and an openness to embracing emergence and learning.

The beautiful complexity of sharing power

From the beginning, Fenomenal Funds was envisioned as an experiment—an intentional departure from the traditional norms of donor-led top-down philanthropy. Too often, feminist activists’ experience with funders has been that of disconnected and risk-averse entities, more focused on fulfilling institutional agendas than truly understanding the realities of movements.

Our design was rooted in power-sharing. The Prospera International Network of Women’s Funds selected and elected their own representatives to serve on Fenomenal Funds’ Steering and Advisory Committees—ensuring women’s funds hold at least 50% of seats in both bodies.

We set out to do things differently, however we also learned that intentions are not enough, the work of power sharing is difficult. Similarly,  representation alone is not enough. Real participation demands addressing structural barriers: resourcing language justice, compensating partners for their time, and holding space for difficult conversations about power, accountability, and resource distribution.

Trust is earned, not assumed

Trust has been our essential currency, but not one easily earned. When our grantmaking began online during the pandemic, the urgency to move resources was met with understandable skepticism. Many Prospera representatives carried memories of past partnerships that promised power-sharing but delivered paternalism. On the funder side, program executives navigated their own dilemmas—wanting to build authentic relationships while still answering to institutional stakeholders[1] .

This mutual suspicion revealed how much healing and trust-building are needed in the feminist funding ecosystem. As one past Steering Committee member reflected:

‘You come on to the table, and there is no trust like an understanding of why you’re coming onto that table, how you are showing up onto that table… I think all of us had suspicions about the other. When you’re having suspicions of the other—I don’t know how that can be addressed, but I think that was the major challenge.’

This candid reflection captures the very real challenge we faced: creating genuine collaboration when everyone enters the space carrying their institutional positionality, personal histories, and unspoken questions about others’ true intentions. Building trust in this context required not just time and transparency, but a willingness to name and work through these suspicions rather than pretending they did not exist.

Beyond individual growth, these trusting relationships sparked a wave of feminist collaboration—from joint advocacy campaigns to shared learning on backlash, diaspora organising, and feminist grantmaking.

We have learned that trustworthiness must be shown, not assumed. That has meant being radically transparent about our decision-making, following through on commitments with care, and remaining open to critique and course correction. It has required humility—admitting when we didn’t have answers—and consistent communication about the rationale behind our choices. We knew this wasn’t just operational—it was political. It was about building shared governance, not as a technical fix, but as a strategy for solidarity and collective action.

And yet, this journey has been far from linear. Power imbalances persist—between funders and grantee partners, among women’s funds themselves and the Prospera Secretariat as well as its leadership. We have also recognised our own positional power as the stewards of Fenomenal Funds’ resources and the gatekeepers of participation. The exercise of power shows up in who speaks in meetings, whose knowledge is seen as legitimate, and which partners have access to donor spaces. These dynamics shape whose priorities are centered and whose feedback is heard.

Despite our commitment to feminist principles, we recognise how hard it is for partners to surface tensions or take risks when there’s still perceived asymmetry. That’s why we’ve tried to hold space with both humility and humanity. We’ve created space for sharing not just strategies, but fears and boundaries. We’ve practiced trust in small ways: responding to critique with openness, being accountable in the mundane, and investing in relationships as more than just a means to an end.

This has not been a perfect process. But it has been a deliberate one. We are learning that sharing power is not a single decision—it is a daily practice. It requires a culture of reflection, a willingness to sit with discomfort, and a commitment to transforming not just systems, but ourselves.

What we have learned: the data and the stories behind it

One of our earliest—and most consequential—decisions was to reject competition in grantmaking. Every eligible women’s fund that submitted a request received an equal-sized Resilience Grant, and we committed to funding all initiatives developed through our Collaboration Grants Lab Process. It felt risky, but our advisors insisted ‘a rising tide lifts all boats’. They knew a culture of scarcity would undermine the feminist ecosystem we aimed to strengthen.

This shift transformed the dynamic. Without the pressure to compete, women’s funds opened up about the challenges of building resilience. They showed up for one another with greater generosity and collaborated more deeply. As one Advisory Committee member reflected:

‘It was a steep learning curve… when you read the proposal, you see [the partner’s] experience, their journey… respecting the voices of the people they supported… and seeing how, as a collective… we were able to be part of that support system… it was live—the reality of system transformation.’

Our funding was intentionally flexible and multi-year, focused on building organisational infrastructure and long-term stability. We understood that women’s funds and the feminist movements they power cannot thrive on project-based funding alone. They need the capacity to plan ahead, care for their teams, and invest in learning, wellness, and growth.

The impact has been significant:

• 92% of small funds said this long-term, infrastructure-focussed approach was vital to their transformation.
• 80% of Prospera members now have financial reserves to sustain them through uncertainty.
• 14 out of 15 Collaboration Groups reported strengthened internal systems, strategic clarity, and financial resilience.

Predictable support enabled women’s funds to take proactive steps—preventing burnout, seizing new opportunities, and investing in long-term priorities. Some boosted communications, fundraising, and security systems. Others, like Croatia’s Ecumenical Women’s Initiative, grew their grantmaking by 30%, from 86 grants in 2023 to 122 in 2024^[1].

Funds launched bold new initiatives: feminist research labs, intergenerational leadership academies, and disability-accessible programs. Colombia’s Fondo Lunaria Mujer, for example, upgraded their office to ensure women in wheelchairs could ‘move autonomously in the space,’ opening it to other justice organisations.

Beyond individual growth, these trusting relationships sparked a wave of feminist collaboration—from joint advocacy campaigns to shared learning on backlash, diaspora organising, and feminist grantmaking.

‘And I think that joy that came with these collaborative grants… we are walking the journey together now, holding each other and learning from each other,’ shared another Advisory Committee member.

Looking ahead: the legacy we hope to leave

Grappling with power in all its complexity has been one of the most challenging and generative aspects of our work. However, keeping learning at the center has allowed us to constantly be self-reflective and strategise to ensure that our actions align with our values. We have learned that the politics of power sharing cannot be glossed over, wished away, assumed, or solved with a single policy or procedure.

Instead, it requires an ongoing commitment to naming and navigating power with care, nuance, and humility. It means investing in trust-building and courageous dialogue, both within our team and among our stakeholders. It means paying attention to whose voices and experiences are privileged or marginalised in our processes. And it means being willing to share and relinquish control, even when it feels risky or inefficient.

As we look ahead to the final month of Fenomenal Funds and beyond, we feel immense gratitude for the relationships that have shaped and sustained this journey. We are in awe of the creativity, determination, and grace of colleagues at women’s funds and feminist activists who continue to find ways to care for their communities and each other, even in the face of unrelenting backlash and burdensome odds.

Our deepest hope is that the legacy of Fenomenal Funds will ripple out far beyond the specific grants we have made or the initiatives we have supported. We hope our story will inspire and encourage other funders to take a leap of faith, challenge the default settings of our sector, and embark on a journey of solidarity and shared struggle alongside movements. We hope that the seeds of trust and collaboration that have been planted will continue to grow and spread, nourishing a just and joyful future for us all.

Phoebe So joined Fenomenal Funds as Program Manager in August 2021, and Shama Dossa as Feminist Learning and Evaluation Manager in September 2021. Together, they co-led Fenomenal Funds from January 2024 to June 2025.

^[1] Our work has contributed to these outcomes but there are other sources of support received by our partners that have also enabled these outcomes.