By Phoebe So, originally published on The Center for Effective Philanthropy, July 2, 2024 In the philanthropic sector, intermediaries and fiscal sponsors play a vital role. They are the critical links that connect resources from donors to historically overlooked causes and marginalized communities. Pooling funds, providing back-office support, and absorbing risk enable grassroots groups to […]
Emergent Learning Strategy Designing and Implementing the Fenomenal Funds’ Learning Strategy Recently Fenomenal Funds was approached to talk about how we developed our Learning Strategy and what we are learning though the process of its implementation. This got me thinking that perhaps there may be others also interested in learning about our work and looking […]
Table of Contents Introduction Methodology of the Learning Plan Learning Management: Ethics and Safeguarding Knowledge Dissemination and Application Introduction The Learning Plan you are holding in your “virtual hands” describes a journey that Fenomenal Funds is taking to identify the main learnings and deepen the understanding of the work that has been done since the […]
A note from KIT our learning partner Where Are We in Our Learning Journey? Since 2019, Fenomenal Funds, its stakeholders, and especially the women’s funds that are part of this initiative have embarked on a joint-learning journey. This journey entails engaging with innovative participatory grantmaking and shared governance practices, aiming at strengthening the individual infrastructure […]
Learning log by Shama Dossa, MEL Manager Acknowledgement: Fenomenal Funds would like to acknowledge the contributions to the article’s analysis from the following Learning and Evaluation Working Group members: Amy Arbreton (Hewlett Foundation), Diana Medina (Fondo Semillas), Nancy Akanbombire (Prospera Secretariat), Nina Madsen (Open Society Foundations), and Zanele Sibanda (Fenomenal Funds). “Learning something is […]
Through a collective conversation, we document our shared learning. We showcase three diverse cases in which we as feminist practitioners and the movements we support are attempting to disrupt oppressive MEL structures, tools, and language, and funder practices as profound acts of resistance.
So what does it mean to catalyze change in an ecosystem? When the board of the Hewlett Foundation invited their Global and Development team (since renamed to Gender Equity and Governance) to submit a concept for a special initiative, they joined forces with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to commission research to inform the […]
Drawing on Emergent Learning in Feminist Philanthropy by Shama Dossa When I joined Fenomenal Funds (FF) last year in September 2022 as Feminist Manager Learning and Evaluation I was excited to be tasked with the challenge of how to put together a learning agenda for this unique initiative through a participatory process. FF had already […]
Over the last decade, the Association of Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) convened a series of discussions around funding for the feminist movement. Through analysis and discussion, they developed and refined the concept of a funding ecosystem that emerged from a vision of funding aligned to the principles and values of feminist movements. In Toward […]
In order to make feminist futures a reality, the feminist movement needs to be relentless in the struggle for women’s rights. Smashing the patriarchy requires systemic change, which takes time and resources. Yet data from the Association of Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) shows that just a trickle of funding allocated to gender equality reaches […]